Hartley’s Sports Shorts; Tuesday, March 25th

Sports by Hartley Tuesday, March 25th, 2025

(As of 12:05 a.m. All times listed are PDT)

WHL:

The Prince George Cougars-Portland Winterhawks best-of-7 first round series will begin Friday and Saturday at CN Centre.

It will shift to Portland in the 2-3-2 format, Tuesday, Wednesday and if needed Friday of next week (April 1st, 2nd and 4th).

Games six and seven, if necessary, will be played in Prince George on Sunday, April 6th and Monday, April 7th.

The (41-21-4-2) Cougars finished second in the BC Division and 4th in the Western Conference.

The (36-28-3-1) Winterhawks ended up third in the US Division and 5th in the Conference.

The Winterhawks won all four regular season meetings against the Cougars, although they have not met in over three months (since Dec. 13th).

P.G. was 24-5-3-2 on home ice this season while Portland was 17-14-2-1 on the road.

The Cougars have a barbecue playoff kickoff party with free hot dogs, street hockey and more this afternoon (Tuesday) from 4:00 to 6:00.

The battle reignites!

We face off against the Portland Winterhawks in Round One of the WHL Playoffs—a rematch of the 2024 Western Conference Championship Series!

Tickets for Games 1 & 2 are on sale NOW at https://t.co/mDqoeZUhv5! pic.twitter.com/H0ZXsYv0k0

— x – Prince George Cougars (@PGCougars) March 22, 2025

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The WHL has awarded an expansion franchise to the Penticton Vees for the 2025-26 season.

In addition, the league has started the initiation of a franchise application process for the City of Chilliwack, to start play next year in the 2026-27 season.

The WHL announced today the awarding of an expansion franchise to the @PentictonVees for the 2025-26 WHL season along with the initiation of a franchise application process for the @City_Chilliwack, to begin play in the 2026-27 WHL season.

📰 | https://t.co/KVBoiC9Puc pic.twitter.com/v0rGb0PsPQ

— Western Hockey League (@TheWHL) March 24, 2025

The WHL Conference standings are here.

NHL: (4 Monday games with 1 Canadian team in action)

Vancouver  4  New Jersey  3  (SO)

The game summary is here.

The (33-26-12) Canucks, with just 11 games left, continue a 6-game road trip Wednesday night (4:30) against the (32-28-10) New York Islanders.

Vancouver is three points behind the (37-28-7) St. Louis Blues for the 2nd and final wild-card spot in the Western Conference.

The (33-25-11) Calgary Flames are four back of St. Louis with three games in hand.

Dallas  3  Minnesota  0
Detroit  5  Utah  1
Columbus  4  NY Islanders  3  (SO)

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Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals visit the (48-19-4) Winnipeg Jets tonight.

It is one of 10 Tuesday games in the NHL.

The 39-year-old Ovechkin is 7 goals away from breaking Wayne Gretzky’s NHL career record of 894.

The (47-15-8) Caps, who have the best record in the NHL, have 12 regular season games remaining.

The NHL schedule and results are here or here.