(As of 12:01AM)
PRINCE GEORGE COUGARS:
The Prince George Cougars ended a four-game losing skid with a 7-6 shootout victory (Saturday) in Kamloops.
The (20-30-4-4) Cougars, with just 14 games left, play at Kelowna on Tuesday, Spokane on Friday, and Tri-City Saturday before hosting Kelowna on February 27th and 28th.
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Prince George Cougars 7 Kamloops Blazers 6 (Shootout Saturday)
Vladislav Mikhalchuk scored twice for the Cougars and added another goal in the shootout.
Ethan Browne notched the shootout winner.
Josh Maser had a couple of goals, including his team leading 25th for the Cougars, who won for just the third time in their last 14 games.
Jared Bethune (1G, 1A) and Josh Curtis (1G, 1A) also tallied for the Cats, who surrendered the first goal for the 10th consecutive game.
WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE:
Everett 4 Kamloops 0
Red Deer 4 Vancouver 2
Spokane 5 Seattle 1
Lethbridge 4 Kootenay 1
Saskatoon 5 Calgary 1
Regina 4 Moose Jaw 2
BC DIVISION STANDINGS:
Kelowna, 59 games = 35-18-4-2 (76 points)
Victoria, 61 games = 35-21-3-2 (75 points)
Vancouver, 59 games = 31-20-5-3 (70 points)
Kamloops, 60 games = 26-29-1-4 (57 points)
Prince George, 58 games = 20-30-4-4 (48 points)
WESTERN CONFERENCE WILD CARD:
Tri-City, 58 games = 29-21-7-1 (66 points)
Seattle, 58 games = 28-21-7-2 (65 points)
Kamloops, 60 games = 26-29-1-4 (57 points)
Prince George, 58 games = 20-30-4-4 (48 points)
PRINCE GEORGE SPRUCE KINGS:
The Prince George Spruce Kings lost road games against Surrey (5-3 Friday) and Coquitlam 3-1 (Saturday), but they clinched top spot in their Division for the first time since joining the BCHL in 1996 after Chilliwack lost 5-2 (Friday) against Merritt.
The (30-17-4-4) Spruce Kings have three regular season games left, all on the road, Friday and Saturday in Chillwack and Sunday in Langley.
The Spruce Kings will start the best of seven first round playoff series at home on March 2nd and 3rd against the fourth place team in the Mainland Division, either Surrey, Chilliwack or Langley.
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Coquitlam Express 3 Prince George Spruce Kings 1 (Saturday)
Surrey Eagles 5 Prince George Spruce Kings 3 (Friday)
BCHL:
MAINLAND DIVISION STANDINGS:
Prince George, 55 games = 30-17-4-4 (68 points)
Langley, 55 games = 24-19-10-2 (60 points)
Chilliwack, 55 games = 26-23-3-3 (58 points)
Surrey, 55 games = 25-22-6-2 (58 points)
Coquitlam, 57 games = 15-38-1-3 (34 points)
CARIBOO COUGARS:
The Cariboo Cougars swept the third place Fraser Valley Thunderbirds 6-5 (Saturday) and 6-3 (Sunday) in Abbotsford.
The (27-6-3-0) Major Midget Cougars are tied for first place with the (27-4-2-1) Valley West Hawks, although the Hawks have two games in hand.
Valley West won both of its home games against the Okanagan Rockets by scores of 5-1 Saturday and 4-1 Sunday.
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Cariboo Cougars 6 Fraser Valley Thunderbirds 3 (Sunday)
(Brandon Dent two goals, Mason Richey 1 + 3 and Hunter Floris 1 + 1. Those three players combined for 16 points in the doubleheader)
Cariboo Cougars 6 Fraser Valley Thunderbirds 5 (Saturday)
(Floris scored twice while Richey and Dent added a goal and two assists)
The Cougars have four regular season games left, all on the road: Saturday (8:45am at UBC) and Sunday (9am in Burnaby) against the Vancouver NW Giants and they close on March 10th (3pm) and 11th (10am) against the Rockets in Kelowna.
NHL: (Canadian teams 3-0 on Sunday)
Winnipeg 7 Florida 2
Toronto 3 Detroit 2
Edmonton 4 Colorado 2
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Former Cariboo Cougars and PG Spruce Kings defenceman Brandon Manning scored his 5th goal of the season and added an assist for the Philadelphia Flyers in a 7-4 win over the struggling New York Rangers.
The (23-30-6) Vancouver Canucks, coming off Saturday’s 6-1 victory over Boston, host Colorado on Tuesday.
UNBC TIMBERWOLVES:
The season is over for the UNBC Timberwolves in Canada West men’s basketball after losing to top-ranked Alberta two straight, 98-64 (Friday) and 80-41 in the best of three quarter-finals.
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(Canada West men’s basketball) Best of three quarter-finals
Alberta Golden Bears 80 UNBC Timberwolves 41 (Saturday)
Alberta Golden Bears 98 UNBC Timberwolves 64 (Friday)
The top-ranked Golden Bears win the series 2-0 to advance to the best of three semi-finals next weekend in Edmonton against the Lethbridge Pronghorns.
The other semi has the UBC Thunderbirds at the Calgary Dinos.
OLYMPICS:
(UPDATE at 6:30AM)
Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz of Canada tied for gold with Germany in the men’s two-man Bobsleigh event at the PyeongChang, South Korea 2018 Olympic Winter Games.
It is Canada’s sixth gold and 17th medal of the Games.
The Canadian women’s Olympic hockey team beat Russia 5-0 in the semi-finals today.
Canada will play the USA for gold after the Americans blanked Finland 5-0 in the other semi.
The Canadian men’s Olympic hockey team advanced to the quarter-finals after a 4-0 victory over South Korea. Canada ended the qualifying round with a pair of wins and a shootout loss and will play Finland should the Finns beat Korea.
Canadian ice dancers Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir are in first place after the short program with a record score of 83.67 points
Canadian freestyle skier Cassie Sharpe of Comox has qualified for the finals in ladies’ ski halfpipe with the top score.
Kevin Koe of Canada is 4-3 in Olympic men’s curling after a 9-7 loss in an extra end to the USA.
Rachel Homan of Canada is 3-3 and in playoff contention in Olympic women’s curling after an 8-3 victory over Japan.
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Canadian freestyle skier Alex Beaulieu-Marchand of Quebec City captured bronze on Sunday in men’s slopestyle.
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Here’s a list of Canada’s medal winners.
GOLD: (6)
- John Morris and Kaitlyn Lawes in mixed doubles curling
- Freestyle skier Mikael Kingsbury in men’s moguls
- Team figure skating
- Long-track speedskater Ted-Jan Bloemen in the men’s 10,000 metres
- Samuel Girard in men’s 1000m short track speed skating
- Justin Kripps and Alexander Kopacz of Canada in the men’s two-man Bobsleigh event
SILVER:(5)
- Snowboarder Laurie Blouin in the women’s slopestyle
- Freestyle skier Justine Dufour-Lapointe in the women’s moguls
- Long-track speedskater Ted-Jan Bloemen in the men’s 5,000 metres
- Snowboarder Max Parrot in the men’s slopestyle
- Luge relay team
BRONZE:(6)
- Snowboarder Mark McMorris in the men’s slopestyle
- Kim Boutin in women’s 500-metre short-track speed skating
- Kim Boutin in women’s 1,500-metre short-track speed skating
- Alex Gough in women’s singles luge
- Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford in pairs figure skating
- Freestyle skier Alex Beaulieu-Marchand in men’s slopestyle
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Sarah Beaudry of Prince George finished 29th out of 87 athletes in the women’s Biathlon 15-kilometre individual race on Thursday (Feb 15th).
It was the first Olympic competition for the 23-year-old Duchess Park grad, who replaced Megan Tandy of PG, who has been under the weather with a fever.
The 29-year-old Tandy was 57th out of 87 in the 7.5-kilometre Sprint on Saturday, Feb 10th.
The Women’s 4x6km Biathlon Relay will take place on Thursday.
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Jamie Macdonald of Fort. St. James will participate in the women’s short-track speedskating 3000m relay on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old crashed in women’s 500 metres preliminary race on Saturday, Feb. 10th.
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A minor concussion suffered in training prevented Meryeta O’Dine of Prince George from competing in the women’s snowboard cross on Thursday, February 15th.