2024 was the year of the Cats in Prince George.
It was fun while it lasted, until their season ended in double-overtime May 6 in 2-1 loss to the Portland Winterhawks in Game 6 of the Western Hockey League Western Conference final.
Until that point, Cougars fans thought they has a real chance of going to go all the way.
Winterhawks forward Josh Davies ended that dream, 5:40 into the second overtime period, clinching the series with a 30-foot shot into the Prince George net that silenced the crowd of 6,016 that packed into CN Centre hoping their boys would push it to Game 7.
“I’m almost speechless, it’s such a tough feeling, honestly,” said Cougar captain Hudson Thornton, who played his last junior hockey game that night. "We’ve been through so much this year as a group and we’ve come so far and this city deserves so much.
“We try to give our best every single night and at the end of this you wanted to give them a championship and obviously we didn’t do that so it’s pretty disappointing. Overall we had a tremendous season and the group that we have is so special, we’re brothers for life.”
In 2023-24, their 30th season in Prince George, the Cougars established franchise records for wins (49) and points (102). They won the Western Conference regular season title and their second-ever BC Division crown and finished the season as the Canadian Hockey League’s top-ranked team.
For only the fourth time since the franchise moved north from Victoria in 1994 the Cougars advanced to the third round of the WHL playoffs and fans flocked to the ticket booth, lining up to buy up tickets as playoff fever built.
The postseason started with a first-round sweep over the Spokane Chiefs. The Kelowna Rockets took it to five games and by Game 5 is was sellout city at CN Centre with crowds of 6,000-plus for the rest of the playoffs.
All that team success brought plenty of individual accolades.
Winger Terik Parascak lit up the league with 43 goals and 105 points and was the BC Division’s top rookie. Head coach and general manager Mark Lamb won the WHL coach-of-the-year and executive-of-the-year awards after he bolstered the lineup through trades to acquire forwards Borya Valis and Matteo Danis and defenceman Chase Pauls.
Six Cougars made the WHL all-star list, including Zac Funk, a Lamb trade acquisition the previous season who finished second in the ’23-24 scoring race with 123 points. Joining Funk on the first all-star team was Riley Heidt, who ended up third in WHL scoring with 117 points, and Thornton, who had 18 goals and 74 points, fourth among WHL defencemen.
Goalie Josh Ravensbergen had a smashing debut as a 17-year-old WHL rookie. He tied a league record for first-year netminders with six shutouts and was picked for the second all-star team, along with Parascak and Cats’ defenceman Viliam Kmec.
The Cougars increased their attendance 29 per cent, tops in the WHL, and raised season memberships 43 per cent as the BC Division nominee for business of the year.
There were more rewards waiting for the Cougars at the NHL draft in June when Parascak was picked 17th overall by the Washington Capitals, Ondrej Becher went to the Detroit Red Wings in the third round and Hunter Laing was a sixth-round selection of the Calgary Flames. Prince George native Miguel Marques of the Lethbridge Hurricanes was also chosen in the third round by the Nashville Predators.
Looking back at the year in sports, it’s hard to ignore what Prince George native Jared Young did to earn himself a one-year contract with the New York Mets.
Young started his eighth year of pro ball in the St. Louis Cardinals’ organization after being claimed on waivers from the Chicago Cubs. He began the season with the triple-A Memphis Redbirds and just like he did the previous year with the triple-A Iowa Cubs he put up impressive numbers, hitting .285 with 11 home runs, 15 doubles with a .411 on-base percentage and a .917 OPS (on-base plus slugging).
On July 30, the Redbirds released Young so he could pursue an opportunity in the Korean Baseball Organization with the Doosan Bears. In his second game with the Seoul-based Bears, Young hit 5-for-6, including two home runs, and drove in eight runs to trigger a 30-6 win over the first-place Kia Tigers.
The left-handed hitting Young finished the season in Korea with a .326 batting average with 10 homers, 39 RBI and a 1.08 OPS. He’ll head to the Mets’ training camp in Florida having played all position as a pro except centerfield and catcher.
“There’s not too many teams bigger than them,” said Young, after a trip to New York to sign with Mets on Dec. 17. “It’s really humbling and an awesome opportunity for me. It makes it easier when you know where you’re going and you have a goal in mind.”
The UNBC Timberwolves men’s basketball team had their own objectives as they headed into the Canada West playoffs in Winnipeg. Ranked 12th out of 12 teams, the TWolves used that as incentive and became the talk of the town as they pulled off three shocking upsets to emerge as bronze medalists – the first UNBC team ever to win a Canada West medal.
The playoff run started Feb. 22 when they took on they defeated the No. 5 UBC Thunderbirds, a team that included former UNBC veterans Fareed Shittu and Micah Jessie. Six UNBC players – Jutin Sunga, Spencer Ledoux, Darren Hunter, Josh Gillespie, Evgeni Baukin and Chris Ross - hit double figures in points and combined for a smothering defence that added up to an 86-76 win that eliminated UBC.
The following day UNBC took on the No. 4-ranked Manitoba Bisons and beat them 84-78, setting up a semifinal playoff against the top-ranked Victoria Vikings. Trailing by six at three-quarter time, the TWolves refused to wilt. With 4:47 left in the game they grabbed a 62-61 lead on a Hunter jumpshot, but they ultimately lost 80-68.
The best was yet to come for UNBC in the bronze-medal game against the Calgary Dinos. Clinging to a three-point lead to start the fourth quarter, the TWolves made five three-pointers, including two from Chris Ross on his way to a game-high 25 points, and they outscored the Dinos 23-12 down the stretch to head to the medal podium 94-80 winners.
“No one expected us to be here,” said graduating guard Darren Hunter. “We don’t even have an all-star. We did it as a team and I just love these guys so much, we have a great team, probably the best team off-court I’ve ever been on.”
On the international stage, Carolina Hiller continued to make PG proud as one of the world’s best long track speed skaters.
In February, Hiller teamed up with Ivanie Blondin and Maddison Pearman in Calgary to repeat as ISU world champion in the women’s team sprint. Then in October, the 27-year-old Prince George Blizzard alumna won the Canadian 500-metre title for the third consecutive year, and in November, Hiller combined with Blondin and Beatrice Lamarche to win the Four Continents team sprint.
In snowboard cross, Evan Bichon laid down his best-ever World Cup results near the end of the season in March. After placing a personal-best seventh in Montafon, Austria, the Mackenzie native made his first World Cup big final and finished fourth in Mont-Saint-Anne, Que.
Meryeta O’Dine and Colby Graham are back this season on the national snowboard cross team, while Gavin Rowell held his national team spot and is competing in World Cup ski cross events in 2024-25. Emily Dickson of Burns Lake posted her first top-12 solo finish earlier this month on the IBU Cup biathlon circuit in Europe.
In August, Joel Ewert of Prince George played wheelchair rugby for Canada at the Paralympics in Paris. The Canadian team went 2-3 in the tournament an finished sixth.
In March, the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club hosted the Para World Biathlon Championships and Para Nordic World Cup on consecutive weeks at Otway Nordic Centre.
In April, the Prince George Sports Hall of Fame inducted boxer Kenny Lally, baseball/hockey/softball player Amanda Asay, biathlete Megan Tandy, baseball/hockey builder Edna Stitt and wheelchair curling coach Joe Rea.
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