Warren product named WHL goaltender of the Week
As a goaltender, Dawson Cowan is supposed to stop opposing teams from scoring goals.
On Nov. 26 against the Portland Winterhawks, though, he scored one himself.
Oh yeah, he also added an assist and made 34 saves to lead his Spokane Chiefs to an impressive 5-2 win over the nationally-ranked Portland Winterhawks.
That’s super cool. It was Cowan’s first-ever goal and you have to watch the video. A goal like this doesn’t happen very often – if at all.
“It was a funny bounce. The guy shot it and it nicked off my glove and rimmed around the glass behind me and it went all the way to the net,” laughed Cowan from Spokane, Washington last Saturday afternoon. “It was an odd bounce and it doesn’t happen too often. With the assist, I made a nice play on the wall and fired it up to the guy at centre ice and he went down and scored.”
For his efforts, the Western Hockey League announced that Cowan was named WHL Goaltender of the Week for the period ending Nov. 26.
The 18-year-old went 2-1-0-0 that week with a two goals-against average and .942 save percentage.
“It’s a cool accomplishment, I guess, it was a whole team effort,” Cowan said. “All of the guys were doing their job, too. Hopefully, we can keep it going.”
With the assist, midway through the third period, Cowan started the breakout himself by feeding Chase Bertholet, who found Rasmus Ekstrom for the game-winning goal. In the final minute of play, a shot glanced off Cowan and fluttered down the ice and into the Winterhawks’ empty net. The play marks the 10th goalie goal in WHL history.
Interestingly, the previous goalie goal was scored by the Spokane Chiefs Lukas Parik in 2020.
Cowan, a Warren product, kicked off the week saving 29 of 32 shots in a 3-0 loss to the Vancouver Giants on Nov. 22.
Cowan and the Chiefs bounced back in his next start in a dominant 8-1 win over the Victoria Royals. The 6-foot-1, 185-pound netminder made 24 saves en route to capturing the third star of the night.
Now in his second full WHL season, Cowan is 5-8-1 heading into this past week.
He’s really enjoying his time in Spokane.
“The organization is top class and I’m pretty lucky to be here,” Cowan said. “We have a very good group and we’re very competitive. All of the guys are really competitive and we give it our all every night and that’s all you can really ask for.”
Spokane is a long way from Manitoba but our province is very well represented out west in the U.S.
Besides Cowen, Chiefs’ head coach Ryan Smith is from Winnipeg and joined by players Ben Bonni (Winnipeg), Owen Martin (Oakbank), Chase Bertholet (The Pas ), and Cameron Parr (La Salle).
“It’s nice to have Manitoban (guys here in (Spokane),” Cowan said. “Manitoban guys make it easy in the locker room. It’s a similar culture and it’s nice, for sure.”
