(As of 12:01AM)
PRINCE GEORGE SPRUCE KINGS:
(BCHL)
Surrey Eagles 2 Prince George Spruce Kings 1 (Saturday)
Hayden Missler made 39 saves as Prince George outshot Surrey 40-9 before 871 fans at the RMCA.
All the scoring came in the second period.
Dustin Manz tallied for the Spruce Kings, his third goal in two weekend games against the last-place Eagles.
The 24-9-1-2 Spruce Kings lead the Mainland Division and BCHL standings by one point over the (25-11) Chilliwack Chiefs after 36 games.
(The Chiefs beat the Langley Rivermen 6-5 Saturday night)
Prince George will close out the month with a couple of road games: Thursday in Langley against the (16-18-1) Rivermen and Friday in Surrey vs. the (8-25-1-2) Eagles.
Prince George Spruce Kings 2 Surrey Eagles 1 (Friday)
Dustin Manz scored his second goal of the game with 2:15 left in the third period to snap a 1-1 tie before 1,335 fans in Prince George.
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Canada West will play the Czech Republic today in the bronze medal game at the World Junior ‘A’ Challenge in Bonnyville, Alberta.
The United States beat Canada West 3-2 in overtime in the semi-final.
The Americans will meet Russia for gold.
The Russians won the other semi 4-1 over the Czechs.
PG Spruce Kings defenceman Layton Ahac is one of 22 players (14 from the BCHL) that is on the Canada West team that finished third in the round robin with a 2-1-1 record.
Ahac does not have a point in five tournament games.
PRINCE GEORGE COUGARS:
(WHL)
The Prince George Cougars play the (21-8-2) Vancouver Giants today at 4:00 in Langley in their last game prior to the WHL Christmas break.
Both teams lost to Royals in Victoria on the weekend; the Cougars fell 5-1 on Friday and the Giants dropped a
4-2 decision on Saturday.
Prince George has lost four in a row, six straight road games plus eight of their last nine overall.
The 11-18-1-2 Cougars are last in the BC Division but they are just two points behind the (12-16-2-1) Kamloops Blazers for the second wild-card spot.
The Blazers lost their sixth straight, 5-2 Saturday night in Lethbridge to the Hurricanes.
Prince George and (11-16-3) Seattle are tied for last in the Western Conference, but the Thunderbirds have two games in hand.
Seattle lost 6-1 in Everett.
The Thunderbirds play tonight in Spokane.
The Cougars play in Seattle on December 28th in their first game after the break.
Victoria Royals 5 Prince George Cougars 1 (Friday)
The Royals erased a 1-0 deficit (on a Rhett Rhinehart goal) by scoring twice in the second and three more in the third.
Brock Gould made 34 saves to pick up the win for the Royals while Isaiah DiLaura stopped 29 of 34 shots.
.@goaliguy32 made 34 saves, @FizerTarun & @dino_kambeitz21 each had 1g-1a, and we scored 5 unanswered goals in our 5-1 win over PG last night. Get ready for tonight’s #TeddyBearToss and watch yesterday’s highlights now!
Watch: https://t.co/uITXdJKTm6
— Victoria Royals (@victoriaroyals) December 15, 2018
CARIBOO COUGARS:
(BCMML)
Cariboo Cougars 4 Fraser Valley Thunderbirds 3 (OT)
The top two BCMML teams play again this morning at 10:30 at Kin 1 in their final league games prior to the Christmas break.
The 16-4-3 Cariboo Cougars are in second place, three points behind the (18-3-1-1) Thunderbirds.
Cariboo will attend the Mac’s tournament in Calgary starting Boxing Day but their next league game after that won’t be until Jan 19th in Fort St. James against the Vancouver NE Chiefs.
CARIBOO COUGARS MINOR MIDGET:
Cariboo Minor Midget Cougars 4 North Island Silvertips 3 (OT Saturday)
Cariboo Minor Midget Cougars 7 North Island Silvertips 6 (Friday)
Same teams play again for the third straight day this morning at 7:30 at Kin 1.
The Cariboo 15-year-olds are 11-4-1-1 and in second place, a point ahead of the (11-2-1) Okanagan Rockets and a points back of the first place (12-4-1) Thunderbirds.
North Island is in 4th place in the 10-team league (with an 8-6-2-1 record).
NHL: (Edmonton and Winnipeg the only Canadian teams idle Saturday)
Vancouver 5 Philadelphia 1
Start of a five-game homestand for the 15-16-4 Canucks, who entertain Edmonton tonight. The Oilers are 9-2-2 since Ken Hitchcock took over as coach. Vancouver super rookie Elias Pettersson has 12 points in his last six games after picking up an assist against the Flyers.
Montreal 5 Ottawa 2
Florida 4 Toronto 3 (OT)
Calgary 2 Minnesota 1
NFL: (2 Saturday games)
Cleveland 17 Denver 16
Houston 29 New York Jets 22
There are 12 Sunday NFL games including Seattle at San Francisco and New England at Pittsburgh this afternoon.
NBA:
The 23-8 Toronto Raptors are 2-for-3 on a four-game Western road trip that wraps up tonight in Denver against the Western Conference leading (19-9) Nuggets.
Toronto leads the Eastern Conference by 2 1/2 games over Milwaukee, 3 over Indiana and 3 1/2 over Philadelphia and 4 over Boston.
SWIMMING:
Prince George Barracudas swimmer Haley Black finished seventh in the women’s 50-metre butterfly at the FINA World Short Course Championships in Hangzhou, China.
Earlier, the 22-year-old Black set a Canadian record in the preliminary heats of the 50-fly.
Black graduated this year from Auburn University in Alabama and currently trains at the Vancouver High-Performance Center.
.@haleymlblack of #PrinceGeorge shows her true colours at World Swim Championships | https://t.co/bxSJmdzeTg #CityOfPG #Sports pic.twitter.com/GIjwiWcnRj
— My Prince George Now (@mypgnow) December 14, 2018