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Prince George Cougars turning around after WHL pauses season-play due to COVID-19

Team was on the road for games in Victoria, Vancouver this weekend
Kyle Balzer
Kyle Balzer
Cougars-Royals-Browne 2 2019 home
Ethan Browne (#19) backhands the puck along the CN Centre boards during a game against the Victoria Royals (via Prince George Cougars/Brett Cullen Photography)

The Canadian Hockey League (CHL) put a pause on the remainder of its season with its three affiliated members, including the Western Hockey League (WHL).

As a result, the Prince George Cougars will have to wait to play out its final six games of the 2019-20 season and are on their way back to the northern capital following today’s (March 12) announcement.

The Cats were aboard their bus en route to Victoria for games Friday (March 13) and Saturday (March 14) on Vancouver Island against the Royals, followed by a Sunday (March 15) matinee in Vancouver with the Giants.

The team issued this statement regarding the pause:

The Prince George Cougars are fully supportive of the decision made collectively by the WHL and the CHL to suspend play this season until further notice.

The health and safety of our fans, players, staff and community is vitally important.

We will continue to monitor information and updates provided by Northern Health, BC Ministry of Health, as well as other authorities.

Our organization will have more information made available to season members, ticket buyers and business and community partners in the near future.

We thank you for your patience and understanding during this unprecedented time.

The Cougars had just finished its home portion of the 2019-20 calendar year, notching three straight wins before the COVID-19 outbreak was upgraded to a pandemic.

On paper, Prince George is also still in the playoff hunt and, if they had make it, would play at least two games at the CN Centre.

The pandemic itself, world travel restrictions and other sporting event suspensions forced the 2020 World Women’s Curling Championships to be cancelled in the city as of today.

There are also 53 confirmed cases of coronavirus within B.C. with six of them now fully recovered, according to the province’s chief medical officer Dr. Bonnie Henry.