Image Credit: Prince George Cougars

By Victor Kaisar

Oil Kings 5 Cougars 2

Cougars drop preseason opener to Oil Kings in Hinton

Sep 6, 2025 | 1:45 PM

HINTON, ALTA. — The Prince George Cougars fell 5-2 to the Edmonton Oil Kings in their first preseason game Friday (Sept. 5) night in Hinton.

The youthful Cougars lineup fell into a 3-0 hole after one period as they Oil Kings scored early and often. The Oil Kings got goals from Chris Kokkoris, Gavin Hodnett, and Kayden Stroeder even though the Cougars outshot them 16-5 in the opening frame.

Dmitri Yakutsenak got the Cougars on the board just 25 seconds into the second period though Lukas Sawchyn restored the Oil Kings’s three-goal cushion about 12 minutes later.

Riley Ashe and Jensen Marsh traded goals in the final minute of the third period to make things a little interesting. Ashe cut the deficit to two at 19:15 but Marsh’s empty netter came just 29 seconds later.

Alex Levshyn went the distance for the Cougars. He made 21 saves on 25 shots in 59:31 of work. Parker Snell picked up the win for Edmonton with 23 saves on 24 shots in 40 minutes. Rail Schollar made eight saves on nine shots in 20 minutes of relief work.

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The Cougars and Oil Kings will rematch in Hinton at 11:00 a.m. PT Sunday (Sept. 7). They’ll also play the Kamloops Blazers in Kamloops next Friday (Sept. 12) and at the West Fraser Centre in Quesnel the next night.

Prince George will begin the 2025-26 WHL Season by hosting the Portland Winterhawks at CN Centre on Sept. 19 and 20. It’ll be the first games between these two teams since the Winterhawks ended the Cougars’ season in a Game 7 in April.

You can find the entire Cougars schedule here.