HARTLEY’S SPORTS SHORTS: WEDNESDAY, MAY 8TH

(As of 12:01 a.m.)

PRINCE GEORGE SPRUCE KINGS: 

The Prince George Spruce Kings are on the bus today (Wednesday) for Brooks, site of the national junior A hockey championship May 11-19.

With the field set and the schedule released, here is a look at who the @SpruceKings are up against in the @HC_NJAC starting this weekend.https://t.co/7ZqrLHUHJ0 pic.twitter.com/o8ZwdETorW

— BC Hockey League (@GoBCHL) May 7, 2019

The schedule is right here.

PG SPRUCE KINGS NATIONAL SCHEDULE:

Sunday, May 12th: PG Spruce Kings  vs.  Oakville Blades  (1:00 PT)
Monday, May 13th: PG Spruce Kings  vs.  Ottawa Jr. Senators  (6:00 PT)
Wednesday, May 15th: PG Spruce Kings  vs.  Portage Terriers (6:00 PT)
Thursday, May 16th: PG Spruce Kings  vs.  Brooks Bandits  (6:00 PT)

The tournament semi-finals are Saturday, May 18th at 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. PT and the final goes Sunday, May 19th at 2:00 p.m. PT.

The BCHL and Doyle Cup champion Spruce Kings are 20-3 in the post-season.

#Road2NJAC | @SpruceKings

The @GoBCHL and Pacific Region champions used a 32-wins-in-36-games run of dominance to punch their ticket to Brooks.

? https://t.co/5g0QFAsF85 #NJAC pic.twitter.com/dKGkDvgLjE

— National Junior A Championship (@HC_NJAC) May 6, 2019

SPRUCE KINGS-BANDITS DOYLE CUP RESULTS:

Game 1 Friday, April 26^th, 2019 @ BROOKS  PG won 2-0
Game 2 Saturday, April 27^th, 2019 @ BROOKS  Brooks won 3-1
Game 3 Sunday, April 28^th, 2019 @ BROOKS  Brooks won 4-0.
Game 4 Wednesday, May 1^st, 2019 @ RMCA  PG won 3-1
Game 5 Thursday, May 2^nd, 2019 @ RMCA  PG won 4-1
Game 6 Saturday, May 4^th, 2019 @ RMCA  PG won 4-2

NHL: (1 Tuesday playoff game)

St. Louis Blues  2  Dallas Stars  1  (DBL OT)

Patrick Maroon scored the winner in his hometown at 5:50 of double overtime.

Stars goalie Ben Bishop made 52 saves.

The Blues won the series 4-3 to advance to the Western Conference final.

2OT winner? You bet it’s the #BudLightBeauty tonight. pic.twitter.com/BZ1sv9qBrq

— NHL (@NHL) May 8, 2019

The second-round of the Stanley Cup playoffs will end tonight as the Colorado Avalanche visit the San Jose Sharks (6:00) in a 7th and deciding game.

The winner will face the St. Louis Blues.

#

The NHL Eastern Conference final opens Thursday (5:00 PT) with the Carolina Hurricanes at the Boston Bruins.

The Hurricanes are riding a six-game win streak.

Bruins defenceman Charlie McAvoy won’t play in the opener against Carolina after he was handed a one game suspension for an illegal check to the head he delivered on Josh Anderson of Columbus.

#

The Edmonton Oilers are looking for a new coach.

On the day the Oilers officially introduced Ken Holland as their president of hockey operations and general manager, the team confirmed that Ken Hitchcock will not be back behind the bench.

The NHL playoff schedule is right here.

WHL:(Ed Chynoweth Cup)

Prince Albert Raiders  8  Vancouver Giants  2

The Raiders scored seven unanswered goals in the first period.

Prince Albert leads the best-of-seven final 2-1 with game four tonight in Langley.

FINAL: @PARaidersHockey (8) at @WHLGiants (2)

SCORING ? | https://t.co/vAsisYaeRa
SERIES ? PA leads 2-1#WHLChampionship pic.twitter.com/R86cnjdQkr

— The WHL (@TheWHL) May 8, 2019

P.A. is 12-0 when scoring first in the 2019 playoffs and 56-0 when including the regular season.

The winner of the series will advance to the Memorial Cup May 16 to 26 in Halifax.

*= if necessary

PG SENIOR LACROSSE: (Tuesday in Quesnel)

RPR Mechanical/Jr Construction Bandits  14  Quesnel Crossfire  5

Prince George Senior Lacrosse continues tonight (Wednesday) at 8 at Kin 2 as the Westwood Pub Devils play the RPR Mechanical/Jr Construction Bandits.

League Standings:

Westwood Pub Devils  2-0
Mackenzie Conifex Power Lumberjacks  1-0
RPR Mechanical/Jr Construction Bandits  1-1
Northland Nissan Assault  0-1
Quesnel Summit Electric Crossfire  0-2

NBA:(2 playoff games Tuesday)

Toronto Raptors  125  Philadelphia 76’ers  89
(Raptors lead the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semi-final 3-2 with game six Thursday night (5 p.m. PT) in Philadelphia)

Denver Nuggets  124  Portland Trail Blazers  98
(The Nuggets lead the best-of-seven Western Conference semi-final 3-2 with game six Thursday night (7:30) in Portland)

#

There are a pair of NBA playoff games tonight: Boston at Milwaukee (5:00) followed by Houston at Golden State (7:30).

The Bucks lead the Celtics 3-1 while the Rockets and Warriors are tied 2-2.

The NBA playoff schedule is right here.

MLB: 

Mike Fiers of the Oakland Athletics pitched his second career no-hitter in a 2-0 victory over the  Cincinnati Reds.

It was the 300th no-hitter in MLB history.

Fiers (3-3) walked two and struck out six.

Minnesota Twins  3  Toronto Blue Jays  0

It was the 7th loss in the last eight games for the (15-21) Blue Jays.

The same teams play again tonight (4:00 PT) in Toronto as the Central Division leading (22-12) Twins go for a three-game sweep.

Minnesota outscored Toronto by a total of 11-0 on Monday and Tuesday.

The Blue Jays are 4th in the A.L. East, 8.5 games behind the division leading Tampa Bay Rays.

The Blue Jays schedule/results right here.

The MLB standings are right here.

UNBC TIMBERWOLVES:

Prince George city all-star Isabel Fuller has committed to play for the UNBC Timberwolves in the 2019-20 Canada West women’s basketball season.

The five-foot-ten guard played for the College Heights senior girls team since Grade 9.

An exciting day for @UNBCWomensBball, officially announcing the commitment of @CHSSCougars city all-star Isabel Fuller for the 2019-2020 @CanadaWest season! Check out the video to hear from Isabel, and to read all the details, click here: https://t.co/798i3dnWRW pic.twitter.com/uBanjMrvH4

— UNBC Athletics (@UNBCATHLETICS) May 6, 2019