(UPDATE – 6:01AM)
Canada won three medals, (a gold and two bronze) today at the Winter Olympics.
Kaitlyn Lawes of Winnipeg and John Morris of Ottawa took gold in the first-ever Olympics mixed doubles curling, whipping Switzerland 10-3 in six ends in the final.
Canadian Kim Boutin captured bronze in women’s 500 metres short-track speed skating.
Alex Gough won Canada’s first-ever Olympic luge medal, grabbing bronze in the women’s singles race.
(As of 12:01AM)
PRINCE GEORGE COUGARS:
The Prince George Cougars lost all three home games on the long weekend, failing to score a third period goal in each.
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Red Deer Rebels 4 Prince George Cougars 0 (Monday)
The Cougars were blanked for the fifth time this season.
Riley Lamb made 25 saves for his first shutout of the season before 3,071 fans at the CN Centre.
Brandon Hagel set up all four goals for the Rebels, who moved within two points of Kootenay for third place in the Central Division and a playoff spot.
It was the ninth straight game the Cougars have failed to score the first goal.
Red Deer went two-for-three (2/3) on the power play while Prince George was zero-for-three (0/3).
The (19-30-4-4) Cougars, who have just two wins in their last 13, play their next four on the road starting Saturday in Kamloops.
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Kamloops Blazers 4 Prince George Cougars 2 (Saturday)
The Blazers scored three unanswered goals in the third period to win for the first time this season when trailing after 40 minutes.
Jermaine Loewen scored twice and assisted on two others while Orrin Centazzo snapped a 2-2 tie with 3:13 left before 2,645 fans at the CN Centre.
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Kamloops Blazers 3 Prince George Cougars 2 (Friday)
Jermaine Loewen snapped a 2-2 tie on the power-play with just 40 seconds left in the third period before 2,901 fans.
WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE:
Kelowna 5 Victoria 4
Edmonton 4 Kamloops 1
Lethbridge 5 Kootenay 2
BC DIVISION STANDINGS:
Kelowna, 56 games = 34-17-4-1 (73 points)
Victoria, 58 games = 34-20-3-1 (72 points)
Vancouver, 55 games = 29-18-5-3 (66 points)
Kamloops, 56 games = 26-26-1-3 (56 points)
Prince George, 57 games = 19-30-4-4 (46 points)
WESTERN CONFERENCE WILD CARD:
Tri-City, 54 games = 27-19-7-1 (62 points)
Seattle, 55 games = 27-20-6-2 (62 points)
Kamloops, 56 games = 26-26-1-3 (56 points)
Prince George, 57 games = 19-30-4-4 (46 points)
PRINCE GEORGE SPRUCE KINGS:
The Prince George Spruce Kings have six regular season games left, one at home and the last five on the road.
The Spruce Kings are 4-0 on a five-game home-stand which concludes Wednesday against the (31-16-4-1) Trail Smoke Eaters.
The (29-15-4-4) Spruce Kings are on the verge of winning their division for the first time in the BCHL; they are 10 points ahead of Chilliwack, Langley and Surrey.
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Prince George Spruce Kings 5 Coquitlam Express 1 (Saturday)
The Spruce Kings completed the weekend sweep over the Express before 657 fans to improve their season record to 7-0 against last place Coquitlam.
Ethan de Jong, PG’s leading scorer and tied for 7th in the BCHL, tallied once and set up two others to give him 60 points (17 goals) in 46 games.
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Prince George Spruce Kings 4 Coquitlam Express 0 (Friday)
Evan DeBrouwer made just 15 saves for the shutout before 917 fans in Prince George.
BCHL:
MAINLAND DIVISION STANDINGS:
Prince George, 52 games = 29-15-4-4 (66 points)
Chilliwack, 52 games = 25-21-3-3 (56 points)
Langley, 52 games = 22-18-10-2 (56 points)
Surrey, 53 games = 24-21-6-2 (56 points)
Coquitlam, 53 games = 14-35-1-3 (32 points)
CARIBOO COUGARS:
The Cariboo Cougars, who split their two home games against the Kootenay Ice, play their final six regular season games on the road starting Saturday and Sunday against the third place Fraser Valley Thunderbirds in Abbotsford.
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Kootenay Ice 5 Cariboo Cougars 3 (Sunday)
Cariboo Cougars 5 Kootenay Ice 1 (Saturday)
The (25-6-3-0) Cougars are tied for first place with the (25-4-2-1) Valley West Hawks, although the Hawks have two games in hand.
NHL:
Florida 7 Edmonton 5
Toronto 4 Tampa Bay 3
Arizona 6 Chicago 1
The (22-28-6) Vancouver Canucks, after 1-and-3 road trip, host Florida on Wednesday.
OLYMPICS:
Megan Tandy of Prince George was not feeling well and decided not to compete as scheduled in the women’s Biathlon 10km Pursuit at the PyeongChang, South Korea 2018 Olympic Winter Games.
The 29-year-old Tandy, who finished 57th out of 87 in Saturday’s Sprint, plans to participate in the women’s 15km Individual race on Wednesday.
If she can’t go, she will be replaced by Sarah Beaudry of Prince George.
Canada (John Morris and Kaitlyn Lawes) won gold in mixed doubles curling, defeating Switzerland 10-3 in the final.
Canada’s first two gold at the Olympics came in team figure skating and from Mikael Kingsbury in men’s freestyle skiing moguls.
Canadian snowboarder Laurie Blouin took silver in the women’s slopestyle.
Canadian long-track speedskater Ted-Jan Bloemen won a silver medal in the men’s 5,000 metres.
Canadian Justine Dufour-Lapointe captured silver in the women’s moguls.
Canada’s first two medals came in the men’s snowboard slopestyle.
Max Parrot earned silver and Mark McMorris captured bronze.
Jamie Macdonald of Fort. St. James crashed in women’s 500 meters preliminary short-track speedskating and failed to advance.
The 23-year-old Macdonald has her next event on Tuesday, Feb.20th in the relay.
Meryeta O’Dine of PG competes Thursday night (PT) in the women’s snowboard cross.
PG ICEMAN:
A total of 505 racers, including 40 soloists, competed in the 31st Prince George Iceman.
28-year-old Chris Pendray of Smithers captured his first Iceman in a time of 1:53:55 which was more than 11 minutes ahead of runner-up Francois Dagenais-Cote (2:05:09).
The Icewoman title went to 25-year-old Kajsa Heyes by 10 seconds over Lindsay Van der Meer.
UNBC TIMBERWOLVES:
The UNBC Timberwolves will play in the Canada West men’s basketball quarter-finals this week in Edmonton.
The Timberwolves visit the 19-1 Alberta Golden Bears Friday (2PM Pacific) and Saturday (1PM Pacific), with the if necessary game on Sunday (1PM Pacific).
The UNBC women’s basketball team had its season end after a 82-65 loss to the University of Winnipeg in a first-round game.
NBA:
The Toronto Raptors host the (30-26) Miami Heat tonight.
The Raptors also play Wednesday in Chicago.
The (39-16) Raptors lead the Eastern Conference by half-a-game over the (40-18) Boston Celtics.
The Celtics next game is Wednesday when they host the Los Angeles Clippers.