The Penticton Vees scored two unanswered goals in the second and more four in the third to crush the Prince George Spruce Kings 7-1. The BCHL leading Vees outshot P.G. 42-21. It was the third defeat in as many days and 6th consecutive loss overall for the Spruce Kings, who fell 4-3 Saturday in Salmon Arm and 5-3 Friday in Vernon. (Salmon Arm scored the winning goal in the final second). The 18-18-0-4 Spruce Kings play their next five on home ice starting Thursday against Salmon Arm. P.G. is 3rd in the BCHL Mainland Division, eight points behind Chilliwack and nine back of Langley and five ahead of Coquitlam.
–The Prince George Cougars picked up just one out of a possible four points in a pair of road games against the Victoria Royals. The Royals won 3-2 Friday in overtime and followed that with a 5-2 triumph as Alex Forsberg
scored a natural hat trick against his former team. Patrick Gora stopped 30 of 35 shots in his PG debut in the net. The 20-23-1 Cougars start a four game home-stand Friday and Saturday against the 23-18-0-3 Portland Winterhawks. Prince George is 3rd in the BC Division, a point ahead of Vancouver and seven in front of Kamloops.
The Giants have two games in hand on both the Cougars and Blazers. All teams in the U.S. Division have more points than the bottom three teams in the B.C. Division.
–Dorrin Luding stopped 27 shots for the shutout as the 23-4-1 Cariboo Cougars skunked the Vancouver NE Chiefs 3-0 to gain a split of the two games at Kin 1. The 4th place Chiefs (16-9-3) upset the major midget leading Cougars 3-2 Saturday. Cariboo resumes league play Saturday and Sunday at South Island.
–The Northern Cougars won all three games in Nelson to clinch top spot in the B.C. Female Triple-A Midget Hockey League. The Northern Cougars dumped the Kootenay Wildcats 4-1 Sunday plus 9-2 and 5-1 on Saturday (total of 18-4 over the three games).
–The PGMHA Wayne Watson Construction Midget Tier 3 Cougars placed second at a tournament in Clearwater. They lost the final to Kelowna Westside 5-2. In earlier action: Prince George beat Fort St John 7-1, tied Kelowna 2-2 and outscored Clearwater 7-3.
–The UNBC Timberwolves men’s basketball team split a doubleheader against the MacEwan Griffins in Edmonton. The MacEwan men won the opener 85-77 before UNBC came back with an 89-87 triumph. Both Canada West teams are 4-6 and tied with Mount Royal for the third and final playoff spot in the Pioneer Division. In women’s action, MacEwan whipped UNBC 69-53 Saturday and 81-48 Friday. The Griffins are 8-2 while the Lady Timberwolves are last at 1-9. The UNBC basketball teams host Thompson Rivers University Friday at 6 and 8pm and Saturday at 5 and 7pm in their first home games of 2015. TRU is 6-4 in the men’s division and leading the women’s standings at 9-1.
–Smithers earned top honors at the Trojan Wars senior boys basketball tournament at D.P. Todd. Smithers beat Duchess Park 76-63 in the final. PGSS captured bronze following an 80-76 triumph over the host Trojans.
