It should be a fun weekend at CN Centre.
The Prince Cougars have two meaningful games against the Victoria Royals with the Saturday contest to have well in excess of 5,000 fans for the always popular Teddy Bear toss.
It will be the biggest home crowd of the season for the Cats.
While the Cougars and Royals are tied for 2nd place in the BC Division and Western Conference, with P.G. holding a game in hand, the two teams are actually headed in opposite directions.
Victoria has just come off a stretch of losing three of its last four games against the last place Vancouver Giants.
The Cougars, on the other hand, have won 8 of their last 9 and are riding a 10-game home point streak.
Prince George has earned 21 out of a possible 24 points in its last 12 games.
Six of the next 10 P.G. games are against Victoria, including two in the Provincial capital right after the Christmas break on December 27th and 28th.
Although it’s not even mid-season, there’s a strong possibility the Cougars and Royals will meet for a 2nd straight year in the first round of the playoffs.
Home ice advantage could very well be determined by who does better in their eight head to head match-ups which begin tonight.
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The P.G. Cougars aren’t just winning games, they are crushing the opposition.
The Cougars, who are an honorable mention in this week’s top 10 CHL rankings, are 10-1-0-1 in their last 12 with half of those 10 victories by three or more goals.
Over the dozen games, the Cats have outscored the opposition 56-32.
In their two losses over this impressive stretch, Prince George held a two goal lead in the 3rd period.
There are still 40 games left, but the Cougars have made significant strides in their first 32 and have the results to prove it.
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Although the Prince George Spruce Kings have themselves to blame, one almost has to feel sorry for the sad state of affairs with their team.
While the Prince George Cougars have shown marked improvement and continue to dominate the local hockey headlines, the Spruce Kings are literally just trying to fight for survival.
The Spruce Kings have a paltry eight wins in 34 games and have the dubious distinction of being the lowest scoring team in the BCHL with a meagre 79 goals.
With 24 agonizing games left, they have nothing to play for, with no shot at the playoffs sitting a whopping 15 points out.
Their next eight are on the road and this weekend play three teams with winning records: Nanaimo tonight, Cowichan Valley Saturday and Langley Sunday.
The Spruce Kings are averaging just 951 fans in 15 home games at the Coliseum which is 80 less than their average of 1031 last season and 258 less than this season’s league average of 1209.
In a joke of a schedule, they don’t play on home ice again until January 14th.
By that time, only their die-hard supporters, and that number is dwindling, will care.
Once a proud franchise, it has been well documented that the team is struggling financially.
When both the finances and on ice product are in disarray it is a sure recipe that can sink enthusiasm while causing dejection, despair and depression for many involved in the organization.
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Earlier this season the Vancouver Canucks were dropping close games: I.E. 7 in overtime.
Each of those O.T. losses at least earned them a point.
Currently the Canucks situation is much worse with a lack of competitive play.
Four of the last seven Vancouver losses have been by a whopping 4 goals.
One has to feel for the Sedins who consistently have performed well despite getting little help.
Both Daniel and Henrik are in the top 12 of NHL scoring but Captain Henrik is now on the sidelines after suffering a lower-body injury in the 2-0 Thursday loss in Philadelphia.
When confidence evaporates there is no quick fix.
The Canucks have just one win in their last 11 road games and during this stretch have been outscored 37-16.
In addition, Vancouver has just five victories in its last 21 games.
The six game road trip still has three more stops: tonight in Detroit, Sunday in Florida and Tuesday in Tampa before a brief Christmas break.
Critics may argue the Canucks have already taken a break, one that has seen them plummet to 26th in the NHL overall standings, just three points ahead of the last place teams (Columbus, Toronto and Anaheim).
From the Quote Rack:
A Manitoba man nearly scrapped a $179,000 winning Grey Cup 50-50 ticket because an incorrect number got posted on the Winnipeg football club’s website. Hard to blame Bomber management though; they’re not used to handling winners.
Comedy writer RJ Currie www.Sportsdeke.com
Dallas owner Jerry Jones says the “Cowboys will not shut Dez Bryant down for the season.” Well, of course not. The teams Dallas has faced all year have already done that.
Contributor Janice Hough of Palo Alto, California www.leftcoastsportsbabe.com
Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis drives a 1997 Dodge Caravan—his dad won it in his final LA lawsuit against Cal Worthington.
Contributor Bill Littlejohn of South Lake Tahoe, California
Santa’s elves have a sense of humour, they are sending Jason Pierre-Paw a guitar for Christmas. He will probably re-gift it to Andy Dalton or JJ Watt.
Comedy writer TC Chong of Vancouver http://alwaysfunny.com/
And in case you missed it:
A man in Lincoln, Neb., has started a magazine about prison convicts. We already have that, it’s called Sports Illustrated.
Brad Dickson of the Omaha World-Herald
Hartley Miller is the sports director and morning news anchor for 94.3 the Goat. His column appears Fridays on myprincegeorgenow.com. Send along a quote, note, or anecdote to [email protected]
Follow him on twitter: @Hartley_Miller