Hockey fans in and around P.G. can plan ahead now that we know the regular season schedule for both the Prince George Cougars and the Prince George Spruce Kings.
There are only five dates where the Cougars and Spruce Kings have a home game on the same night; October 21st, November 10th, November 15th, November 24th and March 23rd.
Here are some of the schedule details I found interesting for each of the two teams.
PG Cougars:
–The Cougars will play 24 of their 34 home games on a weekend; 11 on Fridays, 10 on Saturdays, two on Sundays and one on a holiday Monday (Feb 19th). The Cougars also have four games at CN Centre on Tuesdays, four on Wednesdays, one on a Thursday and one on a non-holiday Monday.
–Their longest homestand is five games which will be in early October. They start the season with seven of nine at home beginning September 22nd against Tri-City.
–The Cougars’ longest road trips will consist of five games, which they will do four times, including a swing to the East Division (Moose Jaw, Regina, Brandon, Saskatoon, and Prince Albert) in late October-early November. (This is actually a big plus as in past seasons (including 22-023) they have had a six and a seven-game road trip)
–They will play their 68th and final game Saturday, March 23rd against Kamloops, one of eight games against the Blazers. They also face Kelowna, Vancouver and Victoria eight times each in their own division.
–The Cougars play 25 games against the U.S. Division, four each against Tri-City, Portland, Seattle, Everett and Spokane and five against Wenatchee.
–They also have one home game against each of the six teams in the Central Division (Swift Current, Medicine Hat, Red Deer, Lethbridge plus Edmonton on Wednesday, December 27th and Calgary on Thursday, December 28th).
–The Cougars three times play three games in as many days and all are on a weekend south of the border: December 1st, 2nd and 3rd (Tri-City, Spokane, and Portland), January 5th, 6th and 7th (Seattle, Portland and Everett) and January 26th, 27th and 28th (Spokane, Tri-City and Wenatchee). Note: Other B.C. Division teams that play three games in as many days are Vancouver (seven times), Kamloops (twice) and Victoria (once). Kelowna does not have a three-in-three all season.
–The Cats Christmas break is a short one with their last game on Saturday, December 16th in Langley against Vancouver and their first game back on Wednesday, December 27th against Edmonton.
The PG Cougars’ regular season schedule is here.
The WHL today unveiled the 2023-24 Regular Season schedule, beginning Friday, September 22 and concluding Sunday, March 24, 2024.
📰 | https://t.co/hwIBoCUSZ8 pic.twitter.com/KJvTlk01x1
— The WHL (@TheWHL) June 27, 2023
Spruce Kings:
–The Spruce Kings are taking a page out of the Cougars’ book by moving up their Saturday home games one hour earlier, going to a 6:00 p.m. start in the 2023-24 season.
The Cougars made this decision last year and it turned out to be successful.
While not everybody was in favour of the move, the response the Cougars received was mostly positive.
The 6:00 Saturday start has been a trend for not only many teams in the WHL and BCHL but for those in many other junior leagues around the country and in the U.S.
–At first glance, the Spruce Kings have their best schedule yet with the vast majority of their home games on weekends. Of their 26 home dates in Prince George, 12 are on Fridays, another dozen are on Saturdays and just two are on Wednesdays.
–Another reason the Spruce Kings’ schedule is desirable; they have no three games in three days, either at home or on the road.
It’s time to mark up the calendar!! 📅
The 2023-24 @BCHockeyLeague schedule has been released!!#TrueBlue | #ModernHockey pic.twitter.com/Zpo2ZBVeVe
— Prince George Spruce Kings (@SpruceKings) June 23, 2023
–The Spruce Kings’ Christmas break will be less than two weeks with their last game on December 16th against Trail and their next game on Dec. 29th against West Kelowna with both of those on home ice.
–Their longest stretch of home games is six from Dec 15th to Jan 6th but keep in mind the Christmas break is in that period.
–The Spruce Kings have no more than five road games in a row and that is spread out in February from the 9th to the 19th.
–The Spruce Kings start their 54-game schedule on the road Saturday, Sept 23rd in Salmon Arm and will end on the road on Saturday, March 30th in Merritt.
–The BCHL Showcase will take place in Seattle from Oct. 22 to 26. It seems strange in Seattle with no American teams left in the league. The full schedule for that event still has to be announced.
–The BCHL still has to announce details of its league showcase on the January 19th weekend.
The Spruce Kings’ full schedule is here.
Taking Note:
Ferris’s transplant day has arrived . . . You got this, girl!!! . . . Some hockey stuff here, too https://t.co/8OdoMbPC7H
— Gregg Drinnan (@gdrinnan) June 30, 2023
FROM THE QUOTE RACK:
Does a perfect game against the 2023 Oakland A’s have an asterisk?
With historic sporting events, many more people always say they attended than fans who were actually in attendance. On Wednesday, Yankees’ Domingo German pitched a perfect game against the A’s. No doubt years from now at least 1,000 people will claim they were at the Coliseum.
*Comedy writer Janice Hough of Palo Alto, California
Aaron D’Souza, a London-based businessman, is starting up the 2024 Enhanced Games, an anything-goes ‘Olympics’ in which there is no drug testing. The favourite in the Games’ 100M sprint will race against Usain Bolt just as soon as they can find Bolt a motorcycle.
*Contributor Bill Littlejohn of South Lake Tahoe, California
Jokic in basketball, Novak Djokovic in tennis … the Serbs are no joke.
*Bob Molinaro of pilot online.com
One of the oldest-ever messages in a bottle was recently found off Germany’s coast. Archaeologists say it’s more than a half-century old because the note reads, “Maple Leafs have won the Stanley Cup!”
Hartley Miller is the news and sports supervisor plus morning news anchor for 94.3 the GOAT and Country 97fm. After growing up in Winnipeg, he has lived in Prince George for the last 44 years and completed his 10th season as the radio colour commentator on the Prince George Cougars home games. Hartley is the author of You Don’t Say (sports quotes).