Sports by Hartley Friday, March 8th as of 12:05 a.m.
(All times listed below are PST)
WHL:
The (41-15-1-3) Prince Cougars host the (29-27-4) Vancouver Giants tonight (Friday) at 7:00 and Saturday night at 6:00.
The Cougars are 2nd in the Western Conference, one point behind the (42-15-2-1) Portland Winterhawks with both teams having eight regular season games left.
The Winterhawks are idle this evening and they will host the Wenatchee Wild on Saturday.
The Giants are 6th in the Western Conference, tied with Kelowna and just three points behind Victoria and four back of Wenatchee.
The WHL standings are here.
The PG Cougars regular-season schedule is here.
The WHL leading scorers can be found here.
Hart Attack column:
The #WHL playoffs are now 3 weeks away. As the regular season closes this is the time of season, players, coaches, media and fans pay close attention to the out-of-town #scoreboard. More in this week’s Hart Attack #column. #hockey @PGCougars @pdxwinterhawks. https://t.co/H62TpOyyso
— Hartley Miller (@Hartley_Miller) March 8, 2024
Cat Scan podcast:
CAT SCAN: @Hartley_Miller chats with @PGCougars alum Quinn Hancock, talking about his single-season goal-scoring record fall after 26 years
| https://t.co/wnQM9kMc2R #cityofpg #PrinceGeorge #northernbc #sports pic.twitter.com/oASengMiXV— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) March 5, 2024
BCHL:
The Prince George Spruce Kings are on the road.
They visit the (23-17-6) Trail Smoke Eaters tonight and the (28-10-9) West Kelowna Warriors on Saturday.
With eight games left in the regular season, the (14-29-3) Spruce Kings are last in the 8-team Interior Division, nine points behind the (19-25-2) Cranbrook Bucks who are in 7th.
The BCHL standings are here.
The Spruce Kings’ regular-season schedule and results are here.
BC Elite Hockey League:
The U18 Cariboo Cougars host the Vancouver North West Hawks in a best-of-3 quarterfinal series at Kin 1 in the BC Elite Hockey League.
Games will be played this afternoon at 3:45, Saturday afternoon at 2:00 and if necessary, Sunday morning at 11:45.
The (26-8-2) U18 Cougars finished the regular season 3rd in the 9-team BC Elite Hockey league while the (13-20-0-3) Hawks were in 6th place.
The BCEHL AAA standings in Male U15, U17 and U18 plus Female U18 are here.
The U18 BCEHL schedule and results are here.
The Female U18 schedule and results are here.
NHL: (12 Thursday games with Winnipeg the only Canadian team idle)
Vancouver 3 Vegas 1
The game summary is here.
The (41-17-7) Canucks start a whopping 9-game homestand Saturday night at 7:00 against the Winnipeg Jets. The Jets play tonight in Seattle, one of four Friday games in the NHL. Vancouver leads the Western Conference by 4 points over Dallas and they are 2nd in the overall standings, a point behind Florida.
Columbus 4 Edmonton 2
Calgary 6 Tampa Bay 3
Boston 4 Toronto 1
Carolina 4 Montreal 1
LA 4 Ottawa 3 (OT)
Kevin Fiala scored in overtime to help the @LAKings extend their point streak against the Senators to eight games (6-0-2) dating to Nov. 7, 2019.#NHLStats: https://t.co/jO88hPtoFV pic.twitter.com/kibIzXLmQD
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 8, 2024
#
The NHL trade deadline is noon today (Friday).
The Carolina Hurricanes acquired sniper Jake Guentzel (along with Ty Smith) from the Pittsburgh Penguins for a package that includes four players, a conditional first-round draft pick and a conditional fifth-round pick.
The Sportsnet trade tracker is here.
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 wild-card standings are here.
The NHL scoring leaders are here.
Curling:
Playoffs start today at the 2024 Montana’s Brier in Regina.
Manitoba (Carruthers) came first in Pool A with a 7-1 record while Saskatchewan (McEwen) topped Pool B also at 7-1.
B.C. (Catlin Schneider) finished 4-4 and out of the playoffs.
The top three teams in each of the two pools advanced to the playoffs.
The final will be played on Sunday with the winner to represent Canada at the 2024 World Men’s Curling Championship on March 30-April 7 in Schaffhausen, Switzerland.
The Pool A standings are here.
The Pool B standings are here.
The scoreboard is here.
The full 2024 Brier schedule is here.
High School Basketball:
The BC School Sports Boys Basketball Provincial Championships wrap up Saturday at the Langley Events Centre.
16 teams are competing in each of the four tournaments.
PGSS dropped its opener but won its second game to sit 1-1 in 4A.
College Heights lost its first two games in 3A.
Nechako Valley started with a pair of losses in 2A.
Cedars Christian, Fort St. James and McBride lost their first two games in 1A.
Results and more info. can be found here.
NBA:
Phoenix Suns 120 Toronto Raptors 113
The (23-40) Raptors continue a 4-game road trip Saturday night at 7:00 in Portland.
The Raptors’ schedule and results are here.
The NBA schedule is here.
The NBA standings are here.
Para Biathlon:
The Para Biathlon World Championships are taking place at the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club.
There are 185 athletes from 20 countries participating over the 12 days of competition.
Results can be found here.
UNBC Timberwolves:
Welcome to the Green and Gold, Blake Plummer.
The newest member of the UNBC Women’s Soccer class of 2024!!
Read More 📎: https://t.co/QY6YSPQ0j5 pic.twitter.com/vLBITLL4Ff
— UNBC Timberwolves (@UNBCATHLETICS) March 7, 2024
Welcome to the Green and Gold, Marcus Wilson.
The newest member of the UNBC Men’s Basketball class of 2024!!
Read More 📷: https://t.co/hNWZHPPl0V… pic.twitter.com/4zy4sv5yW1
— UNBC Timberwolves (@UNBCATHLETICS) March 6, 2024