The Prince George Cougars erased a 2-0 deficit to win their season high 5th straight game, 4-3 over the Victoria Royals. The Cougars scored late in the 2nd and then added three straight goals in the third before 2404 fans. Prince George is third in the BC Division, three points ahead of Kamloops and five in front of last place Vancouver. P.G. is also a point ahead of Tri-City in the Western Conference. The Cougars host Victoria again tonight. In other WHL action Friday night: Kamloops doubled Spokane 4-2, Kelowna dumped Vancouver 5-2 and Everett blanked Tri-City 1-0.
Photo: Courtesy of the PG Cougars
–The Prince George Spruce Kings scored twice in the first and added two more goals late in the third to double the Langley Rivermen 4-2 before a hometown crowd of 1,037. The Spruce Kings lead the best of seven Mainland Division semi-final 2-1. Cole Todd snapped a 2-2 tie with 2:37 remaining in regulation time. Game four will go tonight at the PG Coliseum.
–The Cariboo Cougars began their best of 3 BCMML quarter-final series with a 3-1 victory over the Fraser Valley Thunderbirds before an estimated crowd of 250. Game two will be played this afternoon at 1 at Kin 1.
–The Duchess Park Condors will play Seycove for 5th and 6th today at the BC Girls Double A Basketball Championship in Langley. Duchess whipped St. Thomas Aquinas 77-44 to improve its record to 2-1. The top ranked Condors were eliminated from medal contention when they were upset in the quarter-finals, falling 63-61 to Notre Dame.
–Duchess Park and College Heights will meet each other today for 13th and 14th place at the BC Junior Girls Basketball Championship in Langley. Both Prince George schools lost their first two games before getting a victory on the consolation side.
–Cedars Christian will play in the 9th-10th place game today at the BC Girls Single A Basketball Championship in Lumby. Cedars lost its opener before winning its next two in the consolation, including a 60-39 decision over Pemberton on Friday.
–A total of three Prince George rinks are competing at the BC Juvenile Curling Championships at Lake Cowichan. Alyssa Connell is tied for first place in the eight-team girls division with a 2-0 record while Jessie Withey is 1-1. On the boys side, (also with eight teams competing) Coleton Vriesendorp is 0-2. Provincial winners qualify for the International Juvenile Championships in Edmonton next month.
–Bud Burbee of Prince George finished 1-6 and in the basement at the BC Masters (60 +) Curling Championship in Nanaimo. Ralph Will of Cranbrook came first in the round robin with a 6-1 record to advance to Sunday’s final. (Burbee lost 7-1 to Will and 9-5 to Ken Watson of Vancouver in his final two round robin games Friday. Earlier in the week, Burbee lost 10-5 to Wayne Saboe of Kamloops, 6-4 to Ron Danderfer of Esquimalt and 8-3 to Doug Marshall of Chilliwack before scoring a 5-4 victory over Craig Rampton of Cloverdale. Burbee dropped a 6-5 decision to Bruce Feltham of Qualicum Thursday afternoon. Other members of the PG team included: 3rd Dan Gaboury, 2nd Mark Carswell and lead Jim Burbee)
–The Caledonia Nordic Ski Club holds its Annual (Stride and Glide Sports) Spirit of the Rivers Loppet Sunday at 10am at the Otway Nordic Center. A record 165 cross country skiers have registered. The wide variety of routes includes: 2.5km, 7.5km, 15km and 30 km.
–Six members of the Prince George Judo Club take to the mat today at the Pacific International Tournament in Richmond. Canada Winter Games silver medalist Lavanna Laass of the Hart Judo Academy is among the other participants.
–Canada’s best junior snowboard athletes are departing for China to prepare for the Junior World Championships
March 10 to 14. The Snowboardcross 11 member team includes Meryeta O’Dine and Evan Bichon of Prince George.