Sports by Hartley Thursday, March 30th as of 12:05 a.m.
WHL:
The Prince George Cougars have announced their 2022-23 season award winners.
It comes as no surprise that sniper Chase Wheatcroft has been named the team’s Dan Hamhuis Most Valuable Player.
Wheatcroft finished second in WHL scoring racking up 107 points, including 47 goals.
The 20-year-old Wheatcroft also captured the Michael Fogolin Players Choice Award, the Chris Mason 3-Star Selection Award as well as the Troy Bourke Offensive Player of the Year Award.
Lastly, the Dan Hamhuis Most Valuable Player Award.
We think we know this one… pic.twitter.com/WDGXdqG3vH
— x – Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) March 30, 2023
#
The P.G. Cougars will pick 15th in the 2023 WHL Prospects Draft.
The Prince Albert Raiders won the Draft Lottery.
As a result of earlier trades with Edmonton and Kelowna, the Raiders will pick 1st, 2nd and 7th overall.
#
The Cougars host the Tri-City Americans Friday and Saturday to start their best-of-seven first-round series.
The (37-24-6-1) Cougars ended the regular season fourth in the Western Conference and on an 11-game point streak (8-0-2-1).
The (34-26-5-3) Americans finished fifth and are riding a 7-game point streak (6-0-0-1).
Whiteout in the forecast for @PGCougars playoff runhttps://t.co/jU2XoRIaB5 | #CityOfPG #PrinceGeorge pic.twitter.com/xcYdqHIBWU
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) March 27, 2023
The playoff schedule for the Cougars can be found here.
The WHL standings can be found here.
2023 WHL PLAYOFFS – SERIES H SCHEDULE
| Game | Date | Away | Home | Time | |
| 1 | March 31, 2023 | Tri-City | Prince George | 7:00 p.m. PT | |
| 2 | April 1, 2023 | Tri-City | Prince George | 6:00 p.m. PT | |
| 3 | April 4, 2023 | Prince George | Tri-City | 7:05 p.m. PT | |
| 4 | April 5, 2023 | Prince George | Tri-City | 7:05 p.m. PT | |
| 5 | April 7, 2023 | Prince George | Tri-City | 7:05 p.m. PT | * |
| 6 | April 9, 2023 | Tri-City | Prince George | 6:00 p.m. PT | * |
| 7 | April 11, 2023 | Tri-City | Prince George | 7:00 p.m. PT | * |
* – if necessary
Catscan Podcast:
An in-depth look at the @PGCougars @TCAmericans 1st-round #WHL matchup in this week’s Cat Scan #podcast. Cougars coach & GM Mark Lamb discusses peaking at the right time, similarities between Swift Current & PG rebuild, PG offensive prowess, goalie matchup, 2-3-2 format & more. https://t.co/9wLYevuiOG
— Hartley Miller (@Hartley_Miller) March 28, 2023
Column:
Saginaw gets 2025 Memorial Cup; tourney goes south for first time since 1998 . . . Raiders have big time at draft lottery . . . Blades’ owners now into baseball, too https://t.co/lfhxwvXQU9
— Gregg Drinnan (@gdrinnan) March 30, 2023
NHL: (3 Wednesday games)
Florida 3 Toronto 2 (OT)
New York Islanders 2 Washington 1 (SO)
Minnesota 4 Colorado 2
The (34-34-6) Vancouver Canucks, who have just eight games remaining, start a 5-game homestand Friday night at 7:00 against the Calgary Flames.
The Flames are just two points behind the Winnipeg Jets for the final Western Conference wild-card playoff spot.
There are 11 Thursday games in the NHL with just three of them involving Canadian teams: LA at Edmonton, Philadelphia at Ottawa and Florida at Montreal.
The Canucks regular season schedule/results are right here.
The NHL regular season schedule/results are right here.
The NHL standings are right here.
BCHL:
The (27-20-6-1) Prince George Spruce Kings visit the (27-20-4-3) Salmon Arm Silverbacks Friday and Saturday to begin their best-of-seven first-round series.
Games 3 and 4 shift to Prince George on Tuesday and Wednesday (April 4th and 5th).
The Spruce Kings finished 5th in the 9-team BCHL Interior Division although they had the same amount of points as the 4th-place Silverbacks, just one behind the 3rd-place West Kelowna Warriors.
Apr. 1 Prince George – Salmon Arm – Shaw Centre 6:00 pm PDT
Apr. 4 Salmon Arm – Prince George – Kopar Memorial Arena 7:00 pm PDT
Apr. 5 Salmon Arm – Prince George – Kopar Memorial Arena 7:00 pm PDT
Apr. 7 Prince George – Salmon Arm – Shaw Centre 6:00 pm PDT (If needed)
Apr. 9 Salmon Arm – Prince George – Kopar Memorial Arena 2:00 pm PDT (If needed)
Apr. 11 Prince George – Salmon Arm – Shaw Centre 6:00 pm PDT (If needed)
Baseball:
The Major League Baseball season begins today (Thursday) with all 30 teams in action.
The 15-game schedule includes the Toronto Blue Jays at the St. Louis Cardinals (1:10 PM PT).
The Blue Jays 2023 schedule can be found right here.
NBA:
The (38-38) Toronto Raptors, with just six games left, begin a 5-game road trip Friday night (4:00 PT) against the (50-26) 76’ers in Philadelphia.
The Raptors are 9th in the Eastern Conference.
The Toronto Raptors schedule can be found right here.
NBA results can be found right here.
The NBA standings can be found right here.
Curling:
The World Men’s Curling Championship begins this weekend in Ottawa.
5-time Brier champion Brad Gushue and his team from St. John’s, NFLD. will represent Canada.
They will try to capture Canada’s first world men’s gold medal since Team Gushue prevailed in 2017 in Edmonton.
Canada will play Switzerland (11 AM PT) and Italy (4 PM) on Saturday and then go against
New Zealand (11 AM) and Norway (4 PM) on Sunday.
13 teams compete in the round-robin which runs through to Friday, April 7th,
The top two teams from the round-robin advance to the semifinals on April 8 (4 PM PT).
The third-place team plays number six while four meets five on April 8th (11 AM PT) to see who advances to the semis.
The semifinal winners will play for gold on April 9 at 1 PM (PT) with the semifinal losers battling for bronze on April 9 (8 AM).
Results, standings and schedule can be found here.