Sports by Hartley Tuesday, April 11th as of 12:05 a.m.
WHL:
Prince George Cougars 5 Tri-City Americans 4 (Sunday OT)
Chase Wheatcroft scored at 2:31 of overtime to the delight of 5,383 fans at CN Centre.
The Cougars won the first-round series 4-2.
It is the first time in 16 years that the Cougars have advanced to the second round of the playoffs.
The box score is here.
Wheatcroft’s OT winner sends Cougars to Round 2 for 1st time since 2007 @PGCougars @TCAmericans #cityofpg #PrinceGeorge #northernbc #sports #FeedingTheFuture https://t.co/wtaUEsxveG pic.twitter.com/iX0trDW7NT
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) April 10, 2023
Prince George will take on the Seattle Thunderbirds in the Western Conference semifinals with the first two games in Kent, Washington on Friday and Saturday.
The best-of-seven series will shift back to P.G. for Games 3 and 4 on April 18th and 19th.
The @SeattleTbirds and @PGCougars will meet in the Second Round of the 2023 #WHLPlayoffs presented by @NutrienLTD!
📰 | https://t.co/3Njz1UZ4pU
📸 | Brian Liesse#FeedingTheFuture pic.twitter.com/wUrSOo39pi— The WHL (@TheWHL) April 10, 2023
2023 WHL PLAYOFFS PRESENTED BY NUTRIEN – SERIES K SCHEDULE
| Game | Date | Away | Home | Time | |
| 1 | April 14, 2023 | Prince George | Seattle | 7:05 p.m. PT | |
| 2 | April 15, 2023 | Prince George | Seattle | 6:05 p.m. PT | |
| 3 | April 18, 2023 | Seattle | Prince George | 7:00 p.m. PT | |
| 4 | April 19, 2023 | Seattle | Prince George | 7:00 p.m. PT | |
| 5 | April 21, 2023 | Prince George | Seattle | 7:05 p.m. PT | * |
| 6 | April 23, 2023 | Seattle | Prince George | 6:00 p.m. PT | * |
| 7 | April 25, 2023 | Prince George | Seattle | 7:05 p.m. PT | * |
* – if necessary
Saskatoon Blades 4 Regina Pats 1 (Monday)
The Blades won the series 4-3 to advance to the second round against the Red Deer Rebels.
Attendance in Saskatoon was 14,768.
Connor Bedard, in likely his last WHL game, assisted on the only Regina goal.
Bedard finished with 20 points, including 10 goals, in seven playoff games.
The WHL playoff results can be found here.
The WHL playoff standings can be found here.
The playoff schedule for the Cougars can be found here.
WHL playoff schedule and results for Prince George and Tri-City
WHL column:
Blades win it in Game 7 . . . No miracle for Bedard, Pats . . . WHL’s second-round matchups set, series open Friday https://t.co/BbY2nefIUb
— Gregg Drinnan (@gdrinnan) April 11, 2023
NHL: (10 Monday games with 5 Canadian teams in action)
LA 3 Vancouver 0
The (36-37-7) Canucks visit the Anaheim Ducks tonight (Tuesday) at 7:00 before concluding their season in Arizona against the Coyotes Thursday night at 7:00.
Nashville 3 Calgary 2 (SO)
The loss eliminated the Flames from playoff contention.
Winnipeg 6 San Jose 2
The Jets are three points ahead of the Predators for the final Western Conference playoff spot with each team having two games left.
Winnipeg can clinch a postseason berth by earning at least a point tonight against the Wild in Minnesota.
Toronto 2 Florida 1 (OT)
Ottawa 3 Carolina 2
The @SeattleKraken became the 12th team to reach the 100-point mark in 2022-23, tied with 2014-15 for the second most in a single NHL campaign and trailing only 2021-22 (13).#NHLStats: https://t.co/vyUWDatf83 pic.twitter.com/JRd23eLJhl
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) April 11, 2023
The Canucks regular season schedule/results are right here.
Women’s World Hockey Championship:
(Preliminary round in Brampton, Ontario)
Canada 4 USA 3 (SO)
The tournament schedule and results can be found here.
Major League Baseball:
Tampa Bay Rays 1 Boston Red Sox 0
The Rays are off to a perfect 10-0 start.
The Toronto Blue Jays went 6-4 on a 10-game road trip to open their season.
The Jays host the (2-7) Detroit Tigers tonight (4:07 PT) in their home opener.
The Blue Jays 2023 schedule can be found here.
The MLB standings can be found here.
The MLB results can be found here.
NBA:
The Toronto Raptors finished the NBA regular season with a .500 record at 41-41, good enough for 9th place in the Eastern Conference.
The Raptors host the 10th-place Chicago Bulls Wednesday night (4:00 PT) in an elimination game.
The winner will play the loser of the game tonight (Tuesday) between #7 Miami and #8 Atlanta to see who will advance to the Conference quarterfinals.
The Toronto Raptors schedule can be found right here.
Golf:
Jon Rahm has his first Green Jacket and second major after scoring a four-shot victory at the Masters in Augusta.
Rahm (the 2021 US Open champ) finished at 12-under followed by Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson at 8-under.
The final leaderboard is here.
World Men’s Curling Championship:
(Gold Medal game Sunday in Ottawa)
Scotland (Bruce Mouat) 9 Canada (Brad Gushue) 3
This is Scotland’s first world men’s title since 2009 when David Murdoch beat Canada’s Kevin Martin in Moncton.
The Gushue team captured the silver medal for the second consecutive year.
Full results and standings can be found here.
BCHL:
The BCHL Conference semifinals begin this week.
The league playoff schedule can be found here.
The Prince George Spruce Kings’ season ended when they lost 2-1 to the Salmon Arm Silverbacks Wednesday (April 5th) in double overtime.
The Silverbacks swept the first-round series 4-0.
BCHL playoff first-round results for Prince George and Salmon Arm
The BCHL playoff standings can be found here.