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HomeSportsHart AttackHARTLEY MILLER’S HART ATTACK – (Hockey Town Prince George) March 31, 2017...

HARTLEY MILLER’S HART ATTACK – (Hockey Town Prince George) March 31, 2017 EDITION 621

Prince George hockey fans witnessed something in a four day span that may never be duplicated; winning a pair of Provincial midget hockey titles on home ice in the same year.

Sure, the Cariboo Cougars may capture another BC Major Midget title, and PG Coast Inn could add another Provincial Midget Tier 1 championship, but not likely again in the same year in front of the hometown fans.

With Kin 1 packed with a standing room only crowd of more than 1,000 for both Provincial final games, it’s more evidence that Prince George is not only a hockey town, but one of the best hockey cities in the entire country.

The 2016-17 season has seen the Prince George Cougars average 3,626 fans for 36 home games and 4,779 for two playoffs games.

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In addition, the Prince George Spruce Kings cracked the 1,000 mark (1,014) for their average attendance at the RMCA.

Put an entertaining product on the ice and PG fans are more than willing to show their support regardless, if the caliber of play is Midget, Junior A, or Major Junior.

There are still more PG Cougars games to come and the Telus Cup National Midget Championship is on the horizon, April 24-30, but one could make an argument the most dramatic game in the city this season to date occurred on Thursday, March 23rd, 2017.

As sweet as it gets, the Coast Inn Midgets won their 2nd straight BC title following a 1-0 triple overtime victory over the Chilliwack Bruins in the gold medal game.

Winning goalie Jake Sweet stopped all 50 shots and Chase Schurack scored the winning goal from Craig McDonald in the third overtime period.

To add to the emotion, Coast Inn dedicated the game to one of the players on its championship team from the previous year, 17-year-old defenceman Brevin Gervais.

It was just a couple of months earlier (January 26th) that the six-foot-two, 170 pound Gervais was sent from his billet home in 100 Mile House (where he had been playing Jr. B for the 100 Mile House Wranglers), to a Kamloops hospital in very serious condition after a blood vessel burst in his head.

After 10 intense hours of surgery, Gervais was on his way to recovery and because of incredible self-determination was back in Prince George and with his former team in person for the celebration.

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The Gervais’ are a very close family and Brevin was able to see his cousin Jeremy Gervais help the Cariboo Cougars to their first Major Midget title in nine years when they blanked the Greater Vancouver Canadians 4-0 in the third and deciding game on Sunday, March 26th.

Putting the magnitude of back-to-back midget hockey titles, the first place finish for the Prince George Cougars, all on home ice, (and the hype of the PG Cougars playoffs), plus Telus Cup still to make its mark, it’s a special hockey time in the city.

Extraordinary memories have been made and more are to come.

When the final puck has been dropped on the season, spring of 2017 will be hard to duplicate in Prince George which has demonstrated with enormous support what a passionate hockey community the city is.

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Usually with 10 days left in the NHL regular season, there’s plenty of excitement about which bubble teams are going to qualify for the playoffs.

Not this year! In fact, just bring us the post-season already.

Nine teams have already been mathematically eliminated and a few more are about to get the boot.

The Western Conference is strictly playing for match-ups and home ice advantage.

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Winnipeg, Dallas, Vancouver, Arizona, and Colorado are out, and LA (10 points from a spot) will join that list perhaps as soon as this weekend.

The Eastern Conference has a bit more intrigue but Toronto (89 points) and Boston (88) have the upper hand for the final two spots over Tampa (85) and Carolina (84).

The Maple Leafs are due after missing the playoffs in 10 of the last 11 seasons.

The recent high draft picks have finally paid off making the Leafs competitive for a change, but there overall talent base leaves them far from becoming an elite team.

The Detroit Red Wings should be applauded for remarkable consistency as their 25-year playoff streak has finally ended.

The longest active playoff streak in pro sports now belongs to the San Antonio Spurs at 20 consecutive years and with the way the Spurs are constructed, they could take a run at the Boston Bruins all-time post-season streak of 29 seasons from 1967-68 to 1995-96.

From the Quote Rack:

It was just announced that the Oakland Raiders will be moving to Las Vegas. People in Oakland said, “It will be rough not having pro football.”  Then people in Cleveland said, “Ah, you’ll get used to it.”

Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon:

A Nevada brothel owner said he will open a Raiders-themed bordello in 2020. Meaning that unlike Oakland fans, new Las Vegas fans of the team can at least get value for money while being screwed.

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Comedy writer Janice Hough of Palo Alto, California: www.leftcoastsportsbabe.com

Tom Brady’s missing Super Bowl jersey was found in Mexico, although authorities are still searching for the Atlanta Falcons’ “defensive line.”

Comedy writer Jim Barach of WCHS-TV in Charleston, W.Va.,  http://jokesbyjim.blogspot.com/

NASA has announced the winners of the contest held to develop a solution to help astronauts safely expel physical waste in space, called the ‘Space Poop Challenge’. No, they did not include Richard Sherman.

Contributor Bill Littlejohn of South Lake Tahoe, California:

I had to tell a non-basketball fan that the Zags (Gonzaga) were not named after one of the guys that invented that ‘rolling paper’. (And Duke is not named after John Wayne)
Comedy writer Tony Chong of Vancouver

And in case you missed it:

Reuters reports thieves in Italy stole a prize-winning racehorse and a thoroughbred colt out of their stalls. The rustlers are said to be at large and the horses unstable.

Comedy writer RJ Currie www.Sportsdeke.com

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Hartley Miller is the sports director and morning news anchor for 94.3 the Goat. He also is the 94.3 radio color commentator for P.G. Cougars home games. His column appears Fridays on myprincegeorgenow.com. Send along a quote, note, or anecdote to [email protected]
Follow him on twitter: @Hartley_Miller

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