Sports by Hartley Wednesday, Jan. 3rd as of 12:05 a.m.
(All times listed below are PST)
WHL:
The (26-10) Prince George Cougars have four road games in five nights south of the border.
The Cougars visit the (23-12-3) Wenatchee Wild tonight (6:00), the (12-18-2) Seattle Thunderbirds Friday (7:00), the (23-10-1-1) Portland Winterhawks Saturday (6:00) and the (22-14-1-1) Everett Silvertips Sunday (4:00).
Prince George leads the Western Conference standings by three points over Wenatchee and four over Portland and Victoria.
19-year-old forward Borya Valis will make his P.G. debut against Wenatchee after he was acquired on Sunday from the Regina Pats for D Tyson Buczkowski (06), a 4th-round pick this year, and a 2027 conditional 3rd-round pick.
Valis is on a 10-game point streak.
Borya has arrived!
Welcome aboard, 18!#ForTheNorth • #WHL pic.twitter.com/fSvABDwDX7
— Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) January 2, 2024
The WHL standings are here.
The PG Cougars regular-season schedule is here.
The WHL leading scorers can be found here.
Cat Scan podcast:
Did you know the @PGCougars operate on a
$3-million-a-year budget? The financial aspect of the Cougars including how many fans they need to break even in the Cat Scan #podcast Part 2 with team president and co-owner John Pateman. #hockey #WHL https://t.co/MUt1eZEROw— Hartley Miller (@Hartley_Miller) January 2, 2024
World Junior Hockey Championship: (in Sweden)
Czechia scored with 11 seconds left to beat Canada 3-2 in the quarterfinals Tuesday at the World Junior Hockey Championship in Sweden.
Ondrej Becher of the P.G. Cougars assisted on the game-winning goal for Czechia.
Another P.G. Cougar, defenceman Viliam Kmec played with Slovakia who lost 4-3 in overtime to Finland in the quarters.
In other quarterfinals, the USA whipped Latvia 7-2 and Sweden outscored Switzerland 3-2 in overtime.
The semis will be played on Thursday: Sweden vs Czechia (6:00 AM) and the USA against Finland (10:30 AM) with the winners to play for gold on Friday.
The tournament results and schedule can be found here or here.
NHL: (13 Tuesday games with all 7 Canadian teams in action)
Vancouver 6 Ottawa 3
The Canucks built up a 5-0 lead by scoring five goals in the first period for the 12th time in franchise history.
The (24-10-3) Canucks start a 7-game road trip Thursday (5:00) against the (18-17-1) Blues in St. Louis.
Edmonton 5 Philadelphia 2
Connor McDavid notched a goal and four assists to give him 903 points in 602 career NHL games.
Calgary 3 Minnesota 1
Winnipeg 4 Tampa Bay 2
Montreal 4 Dallas 3
Toronto 3 LA 0
The @NHLBruins claimed top spot in the League standings while Connor McDavid hit the 900-point milestone with a five-point outing during a busy 13-game slate.#NHLStats: https://t.co/M3bpZmUWWl pic.twitter.com/t4yFZADQhv
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) January 3, 2024
There are just two Wednesday games in the NHL: Toronto at Anaheim and New Jersey at Washington.
The NHL regular season schedule and results are here.
The Vancouver Canucks regular season schedule and results are here.
The NHL standings are here.
The NHL scoring leaders are here.
BCHL:
The (10-16-3) Prince George Spruce Kings return to action this weekend when they host the league-leading (21-5-2-2) Penticton Vees on Friday night at 7:00 and Saturday night at 6.
The Spruce Kings are last in the 8-team Interior Division but are just three points behind the 7th-place (11-15-3-1) Merritt Centennials and four back of the (13-17-1) Cranbrook Bucks.
The BCHL standings are here.
The Spruce Kings’ regular-season schedule and results are here.
BC Elite Hockey League:
The (16-5-1) U18 Cariboo Cougars end their Christmas break when they host the (4-16-1-1) Thompson Blazers on Saturday night at 6:30 and on Sunday morning at 10:30 at Kin 1.
Cariboo is in second place in the 9-team BC Elite Hockey League, three points behind the (17-3-0-2) Vancouver North East Chiefs and just a point ahead of the (16-4) Fraser Valley Thunderbirds.
The BCEHL AAA standings in Male U15, U17 and U18 plus Female U18 are here.
The U18 BCEHL schedule and results are here.
Canada West basketball:
The UNBC Timberwolves will resume Canada West basketball league play on home court this weekend when they host the Lethbridge Pronghorns on Friday and Saturday nights.
UNBC has a record of 5-3 for the men and 2-6 for the women.
Lethbridge is 0-10 (men) and 7-3 (women).
The Canada West women’s basketball schedule and results are here.
The Canada West women’s basketball standings are here.
The Canada West men’s basketball schedule and results are here.
The Canada West men’s basketball standings are here.
NBA:
The (13-20) Toronto Raptors begin a 4-game road trip tonight (5:00 Wednesday) against the (11-22) Grizzlies in Memphis.
The Raptors’ schedule and results are here.
The NBA schedule is here.
The NBA standings are here.
NFL:
There is just one weekend remaining in the NFL regular season.
There will be a pair of games on Saturday: Pittsburgh at Baltimore (1:30 PM) followed by Houston at Indianapolis (5:30 PM).
The other 14 will go on Sunday including the Buffalo at Miami night game (5:20) which will determine the winner of the AFC East.
The NFL schedule/results are here.
The NFL standings are here.