Let the festive season continue!
Santa has left the North Pole and will be making his much-anticipated arrival tonight. Yippee!
St. Nick is a master at keeping a secret and will not divulge information to anyone about gifts he, the reindeer, and Mrs. Claus have made during the past 365 days.
Rest assured, kids of all ages: Santa’s coming this Christmas Eve, and a second holiday with COVID-19 won’t stop him. That’s the word from NORAD, which has for 66 years been tracking Jolly Old St. Nicholas on his global mission. https://t.co/F69ONWtIXq
— CTV Calgary (@CTVCalgary) December 24, 2021
So, one is left to speculate what will be left under the tree for the following:
Mark Lamb: (Prince George Cougars head coach and general manager): “A bottle of champagne.” Mark can taste a playoff spot. Sure there is slightly more than half a season to sort out the standings but it is never too early to prepare the cork. The Cougars, who have not been to the post-season since 2017, are currently 7th out of 10 in the WHL Western Conference where the top eight teams advance.
Josh Dixon (PG Cougars associate coach): “A suitcase.” The 38-year-old from the Greater Toronto area knows his way around an airport. In fact, he is on a first-name basis with many flight attendants since he has lived in nine different cities and traveled for hockey and pleasure to many countries and continents around the world.
Ethan Samson (Prince George Cougars defenceman): “A Teddy Bear.” This will be a friendly reminder to Ethan about that special goal he scored against Kamloops on December 11th before nearly 3,000 fans which is a CN Centre COVID-19 restrictions sellout.
Fun was had at the rink. Check out our game recap of Saturday’s big win over the Blazers on Teddy Bear Toss night.
? https://t.co/627yaYYWJu
? @itsjdphoto pic.twitter.com/sIvgotnbua— PG Cougars (@PGCougars) December 12, 2021
Bruce Boudreau: (Vancouver Canucks head coach): “A calculator”. Bruce has so many wins in such a short stretch this season he may have lost track. Under his leadership, the Canucks are a perfect 6-0, having won those half-a-dozen games in just 11 days. For comparison’s sake, the Canucks previous six victories under Travis Green took 40 days to accomplish.
Don Cherry: “A mirror.” Since Grapes is no longer on Hockey Night in Canada, he would appreciate one so he can still admire himself.
Montreal Canadiens: “A ladder.” The Habs need one to climb out of the basement. It can not be very jolly for them going from Eastern Conference champions one season to the bottom the next.
Toronto Maple Leafs: “An authentic toilet seat.” This can remind the team of every bum that has suited up in their uniform.
Arizona Coyotes: “Sticks and more sticks.” The Coyotes would prefer the ones that can be used to actually score goals. Arizona is averaging less than two per game this season, a good reason they are an NHL worst -53 in goal differential.
John Harbaugh: (Baltimore Ravens coach): “Ice.” John will need several blocks of ice to give to his training staff to help soothe the many injuries experienced this season by the Ravens. Pain killers would also be a welcome stocking stuffer. Baltimore has a league-high 36 players listed on the injury report, and while some are related to COVID-19, many have landed on injured reserved or are out indefinitely, including three running backs.
Bill Belichick: “A sign.” It is the perfect gift for the New England Patriots head coach so hopefully, it will be on to Cincinnati without having to steal one.
The man who made “on to Cincinnati” famous has moved on from Cincinnati; Bill Belichick has nothing to say about the penalties imposed on the Patriots for videotaping the Bengals sideline in December 2019 https://t.co/KABBaLp73p
— ProFootballTalk (@ProFootballTalk) August 14, 2020
Roger Goodell: “A one-way ticket to the North Pole.” Many believe that the further away the NFL commissioner is from the football scene the better.
CFL players: “A coupon book.” Dollars are hard to come by in the CFL so this should come in handy for their minimum wage players.
Kyrie Irving: “A COVID-19 vaccine.” This is all that is needed for Kyrie to again be a full-time NBA player for the Brooklyn Nets.
PG City Council: “An accountant.” This would have been appreciated before the George Street Parkade fiasco, a project that was $10 million over the original estimate.
George Street Parkade final cost was $10 million over original estimatehttps://t.co/nrYIIEkUlz pic.twitter.com/4x2kSwmrbn
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) December 22, 2021
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Prince George Cougars head coach and general manager Mark Lamb is this week’s guest on the Cat Scan podcast.
During the episode, he discussed a number of topics including:
- Going into the Christmas break winning five of their last six games
- Outlook on the Western Conference standings
- Development of Hudson Thornton and Koehn Ziemmer’s six-point game
- The tough decision he is facing with overage goaltender Taylor Gauthier
- Most disappointing/satisfying efforts of the first half
CAT SCAN: @Hartley_Miller sits down with @PGCougars Head Coach and General Manager Mark Lamb in this week’s episode
| https://t.co/vCNGZ1je1m #cityofpg #sports #northernbc pic.twitter.com/GiiHttLb5h— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) December 23, 2021
FROM THE QUOTE RACK:
Christmas is a time when kids tell Santa what they want and adults pay for it. Deficits are when adults tell the government what they want and their kids pay for it.
*Richard Lamm
NHL has paused its season for Christmas. Well, at least some Montreal Canadiens fans got their wish “Please let our team not keep losing over the holidays.”
*Comedy writer Janice Hough of Palo Alto, California www.leftcoastsportsbabe.com
Several Elves have turned up on COVID protocol—Santa requested that Christmas be postponed from Saturday the 25th to Monday night the 27th.
*Contributor Bill Littlejohn of South Lake Tahoe, California
In Case You Missed It:
The Packers’ Mason Crosby is having his worst season since 2012, with a field goal completion rate of just under 69 percent. There’s one Crosby that’ll be dreaming of a wide Christmas.
*Western Canadian comedy writer RJ Currie www.Sportsdeke.com
Season’s Greetings:
On behalf of my wife Brenda and our entire family, I would like to extend my best wishes, happy holidays, and a very Merry Christmas to you and yours as well as to my co-workers, contacts, acquaintances, quote rack contributors, Twitter followers, readers and of course, friends and family. Regardless of beliefs and convictions, let us not take anything for granted and cherish the moment of the season. May the good times and treasures of the present become the golden memories of tomorrow.
7 Reasons Why Santa ? is a Positive Leader:
1. He spreads laughter and cheer (Ho, Ho,Ho)
2. He encourages his reindeer
3. He rewards nice behavior
4. He doesn’t tolerate (naughty) negativity
5. He empowers his elves
6. He’s humble and hungry ?
7. He inspires us to believe— Jon Gordon (@JonGordon11) December 20, 2021
Hartley Miller is the news and sports director/supervisor plus morning news anchor for 94.3 the GOAT and Country 97fm. He also is the radio color commentator for P.G. Cougars’ home games. Hartley has been on the Prince George airwaves since 1979 and is the author of You Don’t Say (sports quotes)