Hurlbert, Evaschesen score nine seconds apart to lead Blazers to comeback win over Cougars

“[Head Coach and GM Shaun Clouston] has been talking a lot about staying consistent and not giving up when things aren’t going right and so we’re just trying to stay consistent,” Evaschesen said post-game. “[We had] 20 minutes left and we got the job done.”

Added Hurlbert, “they got the best of us last time in PG and you know we had this one circled and for our guys to get up and go to battle and really just wrestle around with their guys, it showed a lot of heart.”

Thomson and Aidan Foster traded first period goals before goals from Brock Souch – on the power play – and Foster’s second of the night had the Cougars cruising after two periods at Sandman Centre.

The Blazers began the third period with a bit more intensity, and their efforts were rewarded when Ruedig wired a shot from the point past Alex Levshyn at 5:57 to cut the Cougars lead to one.

Seven minutes later – with Foster and Tommy Lafreniere serving offsetting rouging penalties – Hurlbert weaved through the Cougars blueline and tucked home his own rebound to score his team-leading 25th goal and CHL-leading 60 point of the season.

“Four-on-four hockey and I found a little space and you know just a great pass, I think it was Isa [Guram] and just kind of found [Levshyn] one on one and you know the rest from there,” Hurlbert said of his goal.

Nine seconds later, the Blazers regained their lead after Levshyn kicked Ty Bonkowski’s shot from the hash marks to a waiting Evaschesen, who tapped the puck into an open net at 13:08.

“Probably my favourite goal ever,” Evaschesen said as he brought the 3,514 strong crowd at Sandman Centre to life. “The fans are electric and it was just an unreal atmosphere. [Bonkowski] came up the ice and drove wide and I was just lucky enough to be the middle drive and the puck ended on my stick.”

With Levshyn on the bench, Olsen – the 19-year-old defenceman who was acquired from Lethbridge in October – fired the puck down the ice and into the empty net at 19:40 to seal the 5-3 win with his first goal as a Blazer.

Blazers rookie 16-year-old netminder Kaeden Tate held his own with some key saves in just his second appearance between the pipes when the Cougars tried to put the game to bed in the third. He finished with 35 saves on 38 shots to improve to 2-0 in the WHL.

Levshyn turned aside 30 of 34 shots, as the Cougars dropped to 23-11-1-0, though they still sit second in the WHL’s Western Conference.

Eli Tverdovsky, who like Tate was drafted by the Blazers in the 2024 WHL U.S. Priority Draft, made his WHL debut Friday night.

Next up for the Blazers is a home-and-home against the 17-13-3-1 Kelowna Rockets this Friday (Jan. 2) at Prospera Place and Saturday at Sandman Centre.

It’s the Blazers first meeting of the season against the 2026 Memorial Cup hosts, with Saturday’s game scheduled to get underway at 6:00 p.m.

by Victor Kaisar

Hurlbert, Evaschesen score nine seconds apart to lead Blazers to comeback win over Cougars

Our Community