Sports by Hartley Thursday, April 4th as of 12:05 a.m.
(All times listed are PDT)
WHL:
Prince George Cougars 3 Spokane Chiefs 2
The Cougars swept the series 4-0 to extend their winning streak to 13 games.
They advance to the second round of the playoffs for the second straight year.
The game summary and highlights are here.
We are moving on to Round Two for the second consecutive season after a four-game sweep of the Spokane Chiefs!!!!
Recap and reaction from Assistant Coach Carter Rigby! 👇https://t.co/J8RA8QbJr7#WHLPlayoffs • #ForTheNorth
— xy – Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) April 4, 2024
Zac Funk scored the winner on the power play midway thru the second period to extend his point streak to 19 games.
Ondrej Becher picked up an assist to stretch his point streak to 23 games.
Koehn Ziemmer and Viliam Kmec also scored for Prince George.
Ty Young made 30 saves as the Chiefs outshot the Cats 32-31.
Tickets for the first two games of the Western Conference semifinal series at CN Centre (which will be played on April 12th and 13th) go on sale today (Thursday) at 11:00 AM.
Round One of the #WHLPlayoffs comes to a close for a handful of our clubs. #WHLScores pic.twitter.com/gome3fZzVa
— The WHL (@TheWHL) April 4, 2024
The WHL standings are here.
The PG Cougars’ regular-season results are here.
| Game | Date | Away | Home | Time |
| 1 | Friday, March 29 | Spokane 1 | Prince George 6 | 7:00 p.m. PST |
| 2 | Saturday, March 30 | Spokane 4 | Prince George 7 | 6:00 p.m. PST |
| 3 | Tuesday, April 2 | Prince George 4 | Spokane 2 | 7:05 p.m. PST |
| 4 | Wednesday, April 3 | Prince George 3 | Spokane 2 | 6:35 p.m. PST |
Cougars’ Parascak and Lamb nominated for year-end WHL awards https://t.co/ozcYpq4UX7 pic.twitter.com/Ve3o73PBC2
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) April 3, 2024
Cat Scan podcast:
CAT SCAN: @Hartley_Miller sat down with @PGCougars alum and @TexasStars forward Chase Wheatcroft to get you ready for Round 1 of @TheWHL Playoffs against @spokanechiefs | https://t.co/8imHZ6uzXY #cityofpg #PrinceGeorge #northernbc #sports pic.twitter.com/zqaHDINvIk
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) March 28, 2024
NHL: (5 Wednesday games with 3 Canadian teams in action)
Vancouver 2 Arizona 1
Conor Garland snapped a 1-1 tie with 1:51 left in the third period.
The game summary is here.
The (47-21-8) Canucks conclude a 4-game road trip when they visit the LA Kings Saturday night at 7:00, in their 6th last game of the regular season.
Dallas 5 Edmonton 0
Tampa Bay 4 Toronto 1
LA 5 Seattle 2
New York Rangers 4 New Jersey 3
There are 9 Thursday games in the NHL including Calgary at Winnipeg.
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.
BCHL:
The BCHL playoffs open Friday.
The (16-35-3) Prince George Spruce Kings visit the (38-10-3-3) Penticton Vees Friday and Saturday at 7 PM.
The first place Vees won five of the six regular season meetings against the last place Spruce Kings.
The series will shift to Prince George for Games 3 and 4 on Tuesday, April 9th and Wednesday, April 10th.
The if needed games are set for April 12th in Penticton, April 14th in Prince George and April 16th in Penticton.
The BCHL standings are here.
The Spruce Kings’ regular-season results are here.
MLB:
Houston Astros 8 Toronto Blue Jays 0
The game summary is here.
The (3-4) Jays continue a season-opening 10-game road trip Friday (10:05 AM) against the (6-1) New York Yankees.
The Blue Jays schedule is here.
The MLB schedule is here.
The MLB standings are here.
Curling:
Canada’s Team Brad Gushue from St. John’s, N.L., is 8-1 with a guaranteed playoff spot at the 2024 World Men’s Curling Championship in Switzerland.
Team Gushue beat Norway 7-4 today (Thursday) and will next play Sweden (10 AM today).
Canada will conclude the round robin against Japan (5:00 AM) and Switzerland (10 AM) on Friday.
Team Gushue outscored the Netherlands 7-4 and South Korea 7-4 on Wednesday.
After the round-robin wraps up Friday, the third through sixth-ranked teams compete in playoff qualification games (3 vs. 6; 4 vs. 5), with the winners advancing to the semifinals. The semifinal winners play in the gold-medal game, and the losers play for the bronze.
Results and standings can be found here.
NBA:
Minnesota Timberwolves 133 Toronto Raptors 85
The (23-53) Raptors, who have lost 15 straight, visit the (47-29) Milwaukee Bucks Friday night (5:00).
Toronto has just six games left in its season.
The Raptors’ schedule and results are here.
The NBA schedule is here.
The NBA standings are here.