(As of 12:01AM)
PRINCE GEORGE COUGARS:
(WHL)
Seattle Thunderbirds 6 Prince George Cougars 5
Fifth consecutive road loss for the Cougars who jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first period before the Thunderbirds scored the next four goals.
The Cats leading scorer, Vladislav Mikhalchuk, tallied twice and added an assist.
Matéj Toman, Jackson Leppard, and Josh Maser also scored for the Cougars, who have dropped seven of their last eight games.
Zack Andrusiak (2G, 3A) and Nolan Volcan (3G, 1A) combined for nine points for the Thunderbirds.
Taylor Gauthier allowed five goals on 26 shots before he was replaced by Isaiah DiLaura midway thru the game.
The 11-17-1-2 Cougars are last in the BC Division, two points behind the (12-13-2-1) Kamloops Blazers.
The Blazers lost 2-1 Tuesday in Red Deer.
Prince George and (11-14-3) Seattle are tied for last in the Western Conference, but the Thunderbirds have three games in hand.
The Cougars visit Victoria on Friday and Vancouver on Sunday before heading into their Christmas break.
NHL: (Canadian teams 4-2 Tuesday with Calgary idle)
Vancouver 3 Columbus 2
The Canucks scored all three of their goals in the 3rd period to post their third straight win.
Jake Virtanen tallied the winner with 1:46 left.
NHL first star of the week, Elias Pettersson, had a goal and an assist to give him 10 points in his last four games.
The 14-16-3 Canucks conclude a three-game road trip Thursday in Nashville against the (20-10-1) Predators, who lead the Central Division.
Vancouver is four points behind the final wild-card playoff spot.
Edmonton 6 Colorado 4
The Oilers are 8-2-1 since Ken Hitchcock took over as coach.
Winnipeg 6 Chicago 3
Toronto 4 Carolina 1
Minnesota 7 Montreal 1
Nashville 3 Ottawa 1
There are 4 Wednesday NHL games: Philadelphia at Calgary, Dallas at Anaheim, Pittsburgh at Chicago, and Vegas at NY Islanders.
PRINCE GEORGE SPRUCE KINGS:
(BCHL)
The Prince George Spruce Kings (4-1 on a seven-game homestand) entertain the Surrey Eagles Friday and Saturday in their final action at the Rolling Mix Concrete Arena (RMCA) in 2018.
The 23-8-1-2 Spruce Kings are first and the (7-24-1-2) Eagles worst in both the Mainland Division and BCHL.
Prince George is one point ahead of the (24-10) Chilliwack Chiefs.
Friday night is the Drop the Gloves and Sock it to Em game, where fans are encouraged to bring warm winter clothing in bags to throw onto the ice when the Spruce Kings score their first goal.
Prince George will close out the month at Langley on the 20th and at Surrey on the 21st.
###
Spruce Kings goaltender Logan Neaton has committed to NCAA University of Massachusetts-Lowell River Hawks for the 2019-20 season.
Neaton (19) has a 19-4-0-1 record and leads the BCHL in wins and goals-against average.
He is also second in save percentage.
###
Canada West will play (2-0) Russia tonight and (0-2) Czech Republic Thursday at the World Junior ‘A’ Challenge in Bonnyville, Alberta.
PG Spruce Kings defenceman Layton Ahac is one of 22 players (14 from the BCHL) that is playing for Canada West that began the five-team tournament 2-0, with wins over the USA (2-1 in a shootout) and Canada East (6-1).
Ahac does not have a point in the two games.
Semi-finals go on Saturday followed by the Medal games on Sunday.
CARIBOO COUGARS:
(BCMML)
The top two teams in the BCMML will meet this weekend in Prince George.
The 15-4-3 Cariboo Cougars host the (18-3-1) Fraser Valley Thunderbirds Saturday afternoon at 4 and Sunday morning at 10:30 at Kin 1 in their final league games prior to the Christmas break.
Fraser Valley has a four-point lead over Cariboo after 22 games.
CARIBOO COUGARS MINOR MIDGET:
The Minor Midget Cariboo Cougars host the (8-5-2) North Island Silvertips Friday night at 6:30 at the CN Centre, Saturday afternoon at 1 at Kin 1 and Sunday morning at 7:30 at Kin 1.
The Cariboo 15-year-olds are 9-4-1-1 and in third place, a point behind the (10-1-1) Okanagan Rockets and three points back of the first place (11-3-1) Thunderbirds.
North Island is in 4th place in the 10-team league, just two points behind Cariboo.
NBA:
Toronto Raptors 123 LA Clippers 99
Start of a four-game Western road trip for the Raptors who visit the (19-9) Golden State Warriors tonight.
Toronto will also visit Portland Friday and Denver Sunday.
The 22-7 Raptors lead the Eastern Conference by 2 1/2 games over both Milwaukee and Philadelphia.
BC LIONS:
DeVone Claybrooks is the 26th head coach in BC Lions team history.
The 41-year-old Claybrooks spent the last three seasons as the Calgary Stampeders defensive coordinator.
NFL:
All NFL teams have just three regular-season games remaining.
Week 15 begins with a key AFC West match-up on Thursday with the 10-3 LA Chargers at the 11-2 Kansas City Chiefs.
The Chiefs can clinch the division with a victory.
MLB:
In an expensive move, the Toronto Blue Jays released shortstop Troy Tulowitzki.
The 34-year-old Tulowitzki has two years and $38 million in guaranteed money left on his contract.
ATHLETE OF THE YEAR:
Mikael Kingsbury has been voted the Lou Marsh Trophy winner as Canada’s athlete of the year.
The freestyle skier won gold in moguls at the 2018 Winter Olympic Games and earned his 50th World Cup victory last week.
SWIMMING:
Former Prince George Barracudas swimmer Haley Black is competing this week for Team Canada at the FINA World Short Course Championships in Hangzhou, China.
Black graduated this year from Auburn University and currently trains at the Vancouver High-Performance Center.
WORLD CUP BIATHLON:
Megan Tandy of Prince George is entered in the women’s Sprint on Thursday at the World Cup biathlon races in Austria.
The 30-year-old Tandy was the best of four Canadians in World Cup action Slovenia.
She was 62nd out of 102 in the women’s 15-kilometre individual race and 73rd in the 7.5-kilometre Sprint.
UNBC TIMBERWOLVES:
The UNBC Timberwolves will have a new goalie on their team for the 2019 Canada West men’s soccer season.
17-year-old Grande Prairie native Alex Dorscheid has committed to the T-Wolves program.
He is currently living in Victoria, where he trains with the Pacific Soccer Institute.
Dorscheid plans to begin his studies in pursuit of a Bachelor of Commerce next year.