10 www.pgcitizen.ca | Thursday, March 17, 2011 sports Last chance for Cougars overagers Ted Clarke Citizen staff tclarke@pgcitizen.ca In four WHL seasons, James Do-browolski has played 278 of a possible 288 regular season games. In a sport as rough as hockey, just 10 missed games is an admirable record of longevity. As successful as he’s been cutting the ice in his major junior career, come playoff time the 20-year-old Prince George Cougars has always been left with an empty feeling. He missed the playoffs last year with Cougars and was excluded from the postseason his previous two seasons with Prince Albert . Now, in his final season of junior eligibility, with his Cougars needing just one point to clinch a playoff berth, Dobrowolski feels the time is now to wipe out that glitch on his own record. “This will be my first crack at the playoffs ever and I’m really looking forward to it,” said Dobrowolski, a native of Vernon. “I’ve never played a playoff game and I really want to try to make it count.” The Cougars’ playoff picture improved dramatically last weekend when they won two of three road games to move three points ahead of the Kamloops Blazers. The Cougars are one point behind the seventh-place Everett Silvertips, who moved ahead of Prince George with a 2-1 win over TriCity Wednesday night. The Blazers and Cougars finish with a home-and-home series Friday in Kamloops and Saturday at CN Centre. The Blazers have lost five of six games this season against Prince George and must beat the Cats twice in regulation time to make the WHL’s Sweet 16. Last weekend’s Cougar trip started with an 8-0 hammering of the Vancouver Giants that ended a four-game losing streak. They went on to beat Seattle 5-1 and lost 6-3 Sunday to Tri-City. “We knew those first two were the real important games because those teams are close with us, especially Seattle, and we put in real good efforts and controlled those games,” said Dobrowolski. “That was a huge confidence-builder because we were on a bit of slide there. We’ve won the last five games against Kamloops so we feel really comfortable playing against them.” On the other side of the playoff coin from Dobrowolski is Cougars defenceman Sena Acolatse, who has never missed the playoffs in four WHL seasons with Seattle and Saskatoon. The 20-year-old native of Hayward, Calif., has 28 playoff games under his belt. He plans to add to that postseason resume with the Cougars, starting somewhere on the road next weekend. “The regular season doesn’t matter once playoffs hit — it’s a grind and I’ve been kind of sharing what I’ve been through with the guys and hopefully they can use that to their advantage,” Acolatse said. Ideally, the Cougars want to avoid finishing eighth, which would pit them against either Portland or Spokane in the first round. A seventh-place finish would mean taking on Kelowna in the first round, a much shorter roadtrip. “We first have to clinch playoffs but we’re aiming for seventh and we want to get as many points as we can so we’re hopefully going into playoffs on a bit of a hot streak and feeling good about ourselves,” said Acolatse. The other graduating Cougar, forward Taylor Stefishen, joined the WHL this season after two seasons of NCAA hockey at Ohio State and two years in the BCHL with Langley. “I’ve played in playoff games in the BCHL and in college and it’s definitely an exciting time, when you kind of separate the men from the boys,” Stefishen said. “This is a huge weekend and I’m confident the team will get the job done and we’ll get into playoffs and have a good run.” Prince George Minor Hockey fees to rise Ted Clarke Citizen staff After holding the line for five years with no increases, minor hockey registration fees are on the rise. It will cost $50 more for players in all divisions of the Prince George Minor Hockey Association (PGMHA) to play next season. “We had no choice but to raise the fees this year,” said PGMHA president Shawn Rice. “Minor hockey fees have not been raised since 2005, in large part due to the diligence of current and prior executive members who have worked hard to hold the line on costs and expenses. “So far I haven’t heard one complaint about the rates going up, everybody understands it had to go up.” An 3.5 per cent increase in the cost of icetime and the implementation of the 12 per cent HST last year left the PGMHA with a bill of close to $400,000. Player registrations this season did not cover that cost entirely, resulting in a deficit for the league to absorb. The league devoted more resources this sea- son to its coach mentoring program and the budget took a further hit when the provincial government reduced the amount of gaming revenue contributions. Those gaming funds are expected to be further reduced next fall. The new fees will range from $330 for initiation players (aged four to six), to $470 for midget-aged (15-17) players. To avoid a late charge of $100, half of the registration fees for the 2011-12 season are due on May 20, with the remainder to be sent in a postdated cheque, dated August 1. Fees have traditionally not been due until August, but the PGMHA wanted to have the players registered before its office closes, May 29. Having those names a few months in advance of the new season will also give coaching mentor Brian Toll a chance to evaluate players on the house league teams to create more parity among the teams in their respective divisions. The PGMHA has about 1,200 players this season. With the current scarcity of icetime now limiting growth in most of the age divisions, Rice was pleased with city council’s decision Monday to spend $35,000 on a cost comparison study to examine the potential to add a fourth ice surface to the Kin Centre. A city staff report presented in council Monday had recommended going ahead with the original plan to spend $16.5 million of infrastructure funding to renovate Kin 1, as proposed in the 2015 Canada Winter Games bid proposal. “I’m glad to see the city will look at putting up another arena, it’s definitely something we need,” Rice said. “From what I hear from every other (sports) association there is a shortage of ice and we’d love to see another rink.” What it will cost to play The Prince George Minor Hockey Association is raising registration fees by $50 in each of its divisions. Here’s what players will have to pay for the 2011-12 season: Ages Birth years Division Cost 4 to 6 2005-2007 Initiation $330 7-8 2003-2004 Initiation $350 9-10 2001-2002 Atom $400 11-12 1999-2000 Peewee $430 13-14 1997-1998 Bantam $450 15-17 1994-1996 Midget $470 Here's your chance to ■INIS1M010P a stylish Vespa and other great secondary and weekly prizes! Entry forms are in all issues of the Citizen except Thursdays Double your chances to win with our Friday Edition! Call now for immediate home delivery of the Prince George Citizen 250-562-3301 f/r k Brought to you by nun WOOD WHEATON supercentre *Vespa may not be y exactly as shown. priced tlZlCll george it*s what matters to you Rough start for Mohawks Kelly Lapointe Alaska Highway News FORT ST. JOHN — The Fort St. John Flyers got on a roll and didn’t let up in Tuesday’s 10-2 win over the Prince George Mohawks in the opening game of the Savage Cup. Donny Lloyd netted the hometown team’s first goal just 43 seconds into the game. With additional goals by Adam Horst, Tyler Loney, Paul Wiens and Kimbi Daniels, the Flyers led 5-0 at the end of the first period. Starting Mohawks goalie Alex Wright was pulled after the Flyers’ third goal and replaced with Guy Walch, who stayed in net for the rest of the game. Rod Stevens and Jeff Shipton added to the Flyers’ total before the Mohawks’ Jamie Molendyk got the team’s first goal of the tournament past Flyers netminder Troy Hunt. Wiens, Shipton and Jeff Fast capped off Flyers scoring. Nick Matte scored the Mohawks’ second goal with 1:52 left in the second frame. Neither team managed a goal in the third period, though the Flyers took 18 shots on net while the Mohawks took four. The Flyers outshot the Mohawks 61-12. The Flyers’ hometown advantage extended to their crowded bench, while the Mohawks were missing about seven players. Prince George coach Grant Williams was expecting two more players for Wednesday night’s game against the Penticton Vees and four or five more on Friday. But the Mohawks weren’t concerned with Tuesday’s game. “We knew going in that Saturday night is the one that’s going to be for all the marbles - that’s what we’re all geared for,” Williams said. “There’s no question that we’re going to have our hands full. Fort St. John is an outstanding hockey team and we’re going to have to play absolutely at our best to win.” The Prince George-Penticton score was not available at press time. The Flyers and Vees play tonight. Dahms rink has company Michael Dahms is caught in a logjam of contenders after two days at the Williams Moving & Storage B.C. mixed curling championship. Dahms and his Prince George Golf and Curling Club rink of third Blaine Richards, second Rob Vanderstar and lead Courtney Walch started out Wednesday with 11-6 win over Wes Craig of Duncan, then lost the evening game 12-9 to Jared St. John of Penticton. That left the Dahms rink with a second-place 2-2 record, tied with four other teams. Doug Marshall of Chilliwack leads with a 3-1 record. Dahms, who overcame an 8-0 deficit in his game with St. John, takes on Dylan Somerton of White Rock this morning, then faces Ken McHargue of Sparwood in an evening draw. Canucks beat Avs to win division The Canadian Press VANCOUVER — Henrik Sedin scored the game-winner and added an insurance goal to give Vancouver a 4-2 win over the nosediving Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday as the Canucks grabbed the NHL’s first playoff berth. Sedin snapped a 2-2 tie with a quick shot from the deep slot after receiving a clever drop pass from brother Daniel, who pushed the puck back between his legs. Two minutes 18 seconds prior, Alex Burrows tied the game by jamming Daniel Sedin’s centring pass under goalie Brian Elliott, who faced 39 shots. Sedin’s second goal was fired into an empty net. Burrows, the third member of the Sedin line, scored his 21st goal of the season and fourth in seven games. Maxim Lapierre got the other Vancouver goal in the second period. Canuck netminder Cory Schneider made 27 saves in winning his fifth straight start. BASKETBALL: NCAA men’s tournament, games at 9 and 11:30 a.m., 3, 4 and 6:30 p.m., CBS (Cable 7) and TSN (Cable 22).