(As of 12:01AM)
PRINCE GEORGE COUGARS:
70 down … two to go.
The Prince George Cougars conclude their season with a home and home against the Blazers; tonight in Kamloops and Saturday in Prince George.
The game at the CN Centre will be Fan Appreciation Night.
The (23-38-5-4) Cougars, who have dropped their last six, are 21st in the overall standings, two points behind Kootenay and Calgary and five ahead of last place Edmonton.
The Blazers have won five of the eight head to head match-ups this season against the Cougars.
Prince George will be without defencemen Joel Lakusta and Cameron MacPhee tonight, but MacPhee is available to return Saturday.
The WHL has issued Lakusta with a three-game suspension for a headshot major and a game misconduct in Wednesday’s 6-3 loss to Kelowna.
MacPhee was suspended one game after he was slapped with a match penalty for attempt to injure in the third period against the Rockets.
WESTERN HOCKEY LEAGUE:
BC DIVISION STANDINGS:
Kelowna, 70 games = 41-22-5-2 (89 points)
Victoria, 70 games = 39-25-4-2 (84 points)
Vancouver, 70 games = 36-25-6-3 (81 points)
Kamloops, 70 games = 29-36-1-4 (63 points)
Prince George, 70 games = 23-38-5-4 (55 points)
WESTERN CONFERENCE WILD CARD:
Tri-City, 69 games = 36-24-8-1 (81 points)
Seattle, 69 games = 33-26-8-2 (76 points)
Kamloops, 70 games = 29-36-1-4 (63 points)
Prince George, 70 games = 23-38-5-4 (55 points)
PRINCE GEORGE SPRUCE KINGS:
The best-of-seven BCHL Mainland Division final opens in Prince George with the Spruce Kings home against the Surrey Eagles tonight and Saturday.
Games Three and Four shift to Surrey on Monday and Tuesday.
During the regular season, Prince George had three wins and an overtime loss on home ice, but the Eagles (who are coached by Brandon West of PG) won all four games in Surrey.
Eagles-Spruce Kings second round schedule: (All Games at 7PM)
GAME 1 = Friday, March 16th – Surrey @ Prince George
GAME 2 = Saturday, March 17th – Surrey @ Prince George
GAME 3 = Monday, March 19th – Prince George @ Surrey
GAME 4 = Tuesday, March 20th – Prince George @ Surrey
GAME 5 = Thursday, March 22nd – Surrey @ Prince George (If necessary)
GAME 6 = Saturday, March 24- Prince George @ Surrey (If necessary)
GAME 7 = Sunday, March 25 – Surrey @ Prince George (If necessary)
CARIBOO COUGARS:
The playoffs arrive in the BCMML.
The Cariboo Cougars host the seventh place Thompson Blazers in the best of three quarter-final series.
Games at Kin 1 Arena will be played tonight at 5:30PM, Saturday at 4PM, and Sunday, if needed, at 10AM.
Cariboo finished in second place with a 30-7-3 regular season record, two points behind the (31-6-2-1) Valley West Hawks.
NHL:
Winnipeg 6 Chicago 2
Toronto 5 Buffalo 2
Pittsburgh 5 Montreal 3
Washington 7 New York Islanders 3
Columbus 5 Philadelphia 3
Florida 3 Boston 0
Colorado 4 St. Louis 1
Nashville 3 Arizona 2
Los Angeles 4 Detroit 1
The Vancouver Canucks, who haven’t scored in their last 10 periods (212 minutes), host San Jose on Saturday.
The (25-36-9) Canucks are 4-13-3 in its last 20 games to sit 29th (third -last) in the overall standings, two points ahead of Arizona and three up on Buffalo.
BIATHLON:
Sarah Beaudry of Prince George finished 84th out of 97 athletes in the women’s 7.5 km Sprint at the IBU Biathlon World Cup race in Oslo, Norway.
The 23-year-old Duchess Park grad was three-and-a-half minutes off the pace.
The Relay will be run Saturday.
WHEELCHAIR BASKETBALL:
The Junior National Wheelchair Basketball Championships begin today and continue until Sunday in Longeuil, Quebec.
Joel Ewert of Prince George is one of 11 athletes on the BC team.
NBA:
Toronto Raptors 106 Indiana Pacers 99
10th straight win for the (51-17) Raptors, who play tonight in Dallas against the (22-46) Mavericks.
Toronto leads the Eastern Conference by five games over the (46-22) Boston Celtics.
PGA TOUR:
Tiger Woods is four shots off the lead entering the second round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.
Woods fired a four-under-68 (-4), which included a 71-foot birdie putt.
Henrik Stenson has set the early pace at eight-under-64 (-8).
2018 PARALYMPICS:
Canada whipped South Korea 7-0 in Thursday’s Paralympic hockey (formerly sledge hockey) semifinals.
The Canadian team, which includes James Gemmell of Quesnel, advances to the gold-medal game this weekend against the world number one-ranked Americans.