Sports by Hartley Monday, March 25th as of 12:05 a.m.
(All times listed below are PDT)
WHL:
Prince George Cougars 5 Kamloops Blazers 2 (Saturday)
Riley Heidt notched a hat trick on a day he signed a 3-year NHL entry-level contract with the Minnesota Wild before a standing-room-only crowd of 6,029 fans at CN Centre.
Life of Riley: Heidt’s hat-trick cinches top-spot in the West for PG Cougars https://t.co/isg6fIHjB7 pic.twitter.com/NBWzdBGel3
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) March 24, 2024
The Cougars ended their regular season with nine straight wins and on a 19-game point streak.
Prince George finished in first place in the WHL Western Conference with a team record of 49-15-1-3 for 102 points.
The game summary and highlights are here.
ICYMI: Last night was incredible! We enter the WHL Playoffs as the #1 seed in the West!
Recap and reaction from GM & HC Mark Lamb and Captain Hudson Thornton!https://t.co/PlBqjWcLd3
— xy – Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) March 24, 2024
The Mega 50-50 Jackpot reached a whopping $177,455.
$177,000.
THAT’S TONIGHT’S 50/50.
As always, THANK YOU FANS for supporting these mega 50/50 nights. One fan is walking away with a life changing amount of money, and the Spirit of the North Healthcare Foundation will change lives with the rest.
Winning ticket is: FA-2920558
— xy – Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) March 24, 2024
Prince George Cougars 9 Kamloops Blazers 2 (Friday)
The game summary and highlights are here.
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The Cougars will play the 8th-place Spokane Chiefs in the first round of the WHL playoffs with Games 1 and 2 in Prince George on Friday and Saturday.
In the 2-3-2 format, Games 3 and 4 will go in Spokane on April 2nd and 3rd with the if needed games set for April 5th in Spokane, April 8th in Prince George and Wednesday, April 10th in P.G.
Cougars sniper Zac Funk finished with a league-leading 67 goals in 68 games and came second in the scoring race with a team record of 123 points, behind Jagger Firkus of Moose Jaw, who finished with 126 points, which includes 61 goals.
The WHL standings are here.
The PG Cougars regular-season schedule is here.
The WHL leading scorers can be found here.
The WHL Tiebreaking procedure is here.
BCHL:
Vernon Vipers 3 Prince George Spruce Kings 1 (Saturday)
This was the Spruce Kings’ final regular season home game which was played before 1,107 fans.
The game summary is here.
Vernon Vipers 1 Prince George Spruce Kings 0 (Friday)
The game summary is here.
The (15-34-3) Spruce Kings, who have lost 13 of their last 15 games, conclude their regular season with a pair of road games: Friday against the Vipers in Vernon and Saturday vs. the Centennials in Merritt.
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The Spruce Kings will be up against the top team in the Interior Division, the Penticton Vees in the first round of the playoffs.
The best-of-seven series will open in Penticton on April 5th and 6th before shifting to Prince George for Games 3 and 4 on April 9th and 10th.
The if needed games are set for April 12th in Penticton, April 14th in Prince George and April 16th in Penticton.
IT’S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!
We are excited to share our first round Rogers BCHL playoff matchup schedule as we are locked in with the Penticton Vees!
WE CAN’T WAIT TO SEE YOU AT KOPAR MEMORIAL ARENA! pic.twitter.com/P6UqURmGKw
— Prince George Spruce Kings (@SpruceKings) March 19, 2024
The BCHL standings are here.
The Spruce Kings’ regular-season schedule and results are here.
NHL: (10 Sunday games with Vancouver the only Canadian team idle)
Ottawa 5 Edmonton 3
Washington 3 Winnipeg 0
Buffalo 4 Calgary 1
Carolina 2 Toronto 1
Montreal 5 Seattle 1
A 10-game Sunday saw Zach Hyman and Sam Reinhart become the first pair of players to reach the 50-goal plateau on the same day since April 4, 2001, when Jaromir Jagr and Joe Sakic both did so.#NHLStats: https://t.co/cHgoFiF1SJ pic.twitter.com/wQzLMV8Fe1
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 25, 2024
The (45-18-8) Vancouver Canucks, coming off of Saturday’s 4-2 victory over Calgary, play game 7 on a 9-game homestand tonight at 6:00 against the (37-22-11) LA Kings.
The Canucks are on the verge of clinching just their second playoff spot in the last nine years.
The only other Monday game in the NHL has Vegas at St. Louis.
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.
Minor Hockey Provincials:
Prince George teams competed at the Provincial Minor Hockey Championships in various cities throughout BC.
More information and results can be found here.
World Women’s Curling:
Canada’s Rachel Homan and her team from Ottawa won the women’s world curling championship in Sydney, N.S.
Homan beat Switzerland’s Silvana Tirinzoni, the four-time defending champions, 7-5 in the gold-medal game.
Canada trailed 5-4 but scored three in the ninth to take the lead.
This is the second time the 34-year-old Homan has won this event and it marks Canada’s first gold at the women’s world curling championship since 2018.
The standings are here or here.
The schedule/results are here.
The current results are here.
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The world men’s curling championship begins Saturday in Switzerland.
Brad Gushue will skip the Canadian team.
NBA:
The (23-48) Toronto Raptors try to snap a 10-game losing streak when they host the (26-45) Brooklyn Nets tonight (Monday 4:30).
The Raptors’ schedule and results are here.
The NBA schedule is here.
The NBA standings are here.
NFL:
The ESPN free agency tracker is here.