The Prince George Cougars will open their 31st Western Hockey League season playing in the comforts of home.
The schedule was announced Tuesday just as news broke that the team is for sale and could potentially move.
Coming off their best-ever season since the franchise moved north from Victoria in 1994, the Cats will host the Spokane Chiefs in a season-opening weekend doubleheader Sept. 20-21 at CN Centre.
Twenty-three of the Cougars’ 34 home games in 2024-25 will be played on weekends.
Three of their six Tuesday night games at CN Centre will feature Eastern Conference opponents, starting with a visit from the Ed Chynoweth Cup-champion Moose Jaw Warriors on Oct. 29.
The Saskatoon Blades will come to Prince George on Tuesday, Nov. 5 and the Swift Current Broncos head west to play the Cats on Tuesday, Jan. 28.
There are three midweek (Tuesday/Wednesday) doubleheaders on the home schedule, starting with the Portland Winterhawks on Oct. 7-8. The Vancouver Giants will be here, Jan. 7-8, and the Kelowna Rockets visit on Feb. 25-26.
The Cougars host the Victoria Royals in back-to-back games on March 20-21.
This past season the Cougars won the B.C. Division and Western Conference regular season titles after finishing the 68-game schedule with a 49-15-1-3 record which established new franchise marks for wins (49) and points (102).
Those two banners will be raised to the rafters on opening night.
The Cougars' preseason starts in Edson, Alta., with a two-game set against the Edmonton Oil Kings, Sept. 7-8, followed by two games against the Kamloops Blazers the following weekend, Sept. 13 in Kamloops and Sept. 14 in Quesnel.
