The Prince George Cougars erased a 4-2 third period deficit to beat the Portland Winterhawks 6-5 in a shootout. The victory ended a 3-game losing skid for the Cats (who rebounded after Friday’s 7-4 loss to Tri-City). Zach Pochiro notched the shootout winner after scoring the Cats 5th goal of the game. Chase Witala scored twice, including his team high 37th goal of the season. Jansen Harkins picked up an assist to break Quinn Hancock’s team record of 58 set in 1997-98.
–The PG Cougars are on the verge of securing their first playoff spot in four years. They are 3rd in the BC Division with 63 points, two more than Kamloops with three left to play, all against the Blazers and Prince George would win a tie-breaker. The Cats and Blazers meet Wednesday and Friday at CN Centre and Saturday in Kamloops. The Blazers, who lost 2-1 in Kelowna, are tied with Tri-City for the final wild card spot in the Western Conference. Tri-City dropped a 5-2 decision to Spokane.
Photo of Zach Pochiro courtesy of the PG Cougars
–The Chilliwack Chiefs crushed the Prince George Spruce Kings 8-1 as they exploded with three goals in the first and four unanswered tallies in the second. The Chiefs, who took the opener 3-2, lead the best of 7 BCHL Mainland Division final 2-0. Games 3 and 4 will be played Monday and Tuesday at the PG Coliseum.
–In other BCHL playoff action: the Penticton Vees nipped the Vernon Vipers 4-3 in double overtime to take a 1-0 lead in the Interior Division final and the Nanaimo Clippers edged the Powell River Kings 2-1 to grab a 2-0 lead in the Island Division final. (Nanaimo took Friday’s opener 4-2).
–The Cariboo Cougars followed up a 5-0 victory (Friday) with a 4-0 win (Saturday) over the South Island Royals to capture the best of three BCMML semi-final series 2-0. Griffen Outhouse, who just turned 17, posted a pair of shutouts with 27 saves Saturday and 21 on Friday. The major midget Cougars will host the Vancouver Northeast Chiefs in the best of three playoff final at Kin 1 Friday at 5 p.m. Saturday at 1:30 p.m. and Sunday (March 22) if needed at 10 a.m. The Chiefs also took their semi in two straight games over the Greater Vancouver Canadians 8-4 and 6-2.
–The Prince George based Northern Cougars female midget hockey team beat the 4th place Thompson-Okanagan Lakers 2-0 and 2-1 Saturday to win the best of three BCFM AAA league semi-final 2-0. The first place Northern Cougars will host the best of three final the March 22nd weekend.
–The Provincial Minor Hockey Championships begin today. Prince George rep teams will be on the ice in Peewee Tier 1 in South Surrey, Peewee Female in West Vancouver, Bantam Tier 1 in Rutland, Bantam Tier 2 in Cranbrook and Midget Tier 1 in Comox Valley. Meanwhile, P.G. will host the BC Peewee Tier 2 minor hockey championship at Kin 1. Games in the eight team tournament will start on Monday.
–The PGSS Polars lost 98-74 to West Vancouver to finish 14th out of 16 at the Provincial Boys Quad A basketball championship in Langley. The Polars ended up with an overall 1-3 record. PGSS fell 109-68 to Kelowna and 97-54 to Walnut Grove before getting its lone victory 88-83 over Queen Charlotte.
–The Nechako Valley Vikings whipped Mount Elizabeth 68-42 in the 15th-16th place game at the BC Boys Double A basketball championship in Langley. The Vikings ended up 1-3. They were beaten 88-69 by Southridge, 81-54 by Lambrick Park and 56-43 by Kwalikum in their first three games.
–Both Sarah Beaudry (junior women) and Emily Dickson (youth women) of Prince George earned three individual gold at the National Biathlon Championships in Hinton, Alberta. Beaudry and Dickson topped their division in the mass start (Saturday), pursuit (Thursday) and sprint (Wednesday) races. Claire Lapointe of PG (senior girls) took silver in the pursuit and sprint but was disqualified in the mass start. On the men’s side, Matt Neumann of PG wound up 4th in all three of his individual races (mass start, pursuit and sprint).