Local Sports

When and if the Prince George Cougars solve their penalty-killing woes, they might just climb the ladder in the WHL standings. But until then, good teams like the Brandon Wheat Kings will continue to expose a weakness that is crippling the Cats.

After one sub-standard season, the Cariboo Cougars are back in their usual place in the upper echelons of the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League standings.

Comparatively-speaking, it was close, but no cigar. A 7-4 loss to the Brandon Wheat Kings might not seem like tight game but it was small victory for a Prince George Cougars team that's made it a habit of losing big on the nights they do lose.

With the start of the CIS Canada West basketball season two weeks away, both UNBC Timberwolves teams are in action in pre-season play this weekend in Winnipeg.

There's much at stake this Saturday for the Prince George Maroon Marauders atom football team.

Last year they were Number 1. Now they're tops in the country once again and it's becoming a habit for Prince George Special Olympics.

Fresh off a tough four-game road trip that took the Prince George Spruce Kings all the way to the western edges of Vancouver Island, they now have to refocus for another tough test. That would be the 10-1 Penticton Vees, in town tonight for a 7 p.m.

Julia Babicz helped pace the College Heights Cougars to a second-overall showing in the senior girls' team event at the north central zone high school cross-country running championships Saturday in Vanderhoof.

The Northland Dodge Cougars can now claim top spot in the B.C. Hockey Female Midget AAA League for themselves.

After five years playing hockey in Minnesota, Canadian Jared Bethune has returned north of the 49th parallel, all the way to Prince George and the Western Hockey League. Bethune, a 17-year-old left-winger from Fort Frances, Ont.