It takes talent, skill and preparation to be a Prince George Cougars player.
Same goes for the behind-the-scenes team that makes the magic happen for fans at the team's season opener.
There are a few secrets that can't be shared because that would spoil the surprise but the Cougars management team and owners are promising a great show Friday night for the Cougars' fifth line - the fans, said Andy Beesley, the team's vice-president of business.
"We like to think that we're very tuned into the fans and we've taken in a lot of feedback," he said. "Our learning curve has been straight up, and having said that we're all committed to doing what's best for this community and we're all die-hard Cougars' fans so we've got that experience to rely on too, as we've all been part of the audience."
Even before hockey fans enter the building Friday, they'll notice a change in atmosphere.
Look to the CN Centre rooftop to find the source of the lively music of Out of Alba, a popular local Celtic band, who will entertain approaching fans.
Anthem singer Wil Fundal will be hitting the high notes on opening night and for the majority of home games thereafter.
Fundal thought it would be cool to audition to be the anthem singer and he was really nervous because he'd never sung in an arena before.
"When I started to sing there was a huge delay - like a one and a half second delay - and afterwards I thought I'd actually bombed it because I had recorded it on my phone and my pitch was a little off," laughed Fundal, who got a second audition and then got the job.
There's no pre-recording going on when it comes to the organ notes that will fill the arena when play has stopped. Longtime hockey fans will be happy to hear there's a live organ player that will entertain the crowd. Curtis Abriel is the musical coordinator and keyboardist who happily takes on the role.
"There was a trial run during the exhibition games and it went over really well," said Abriel. "During the first game people didn't understand I was playing live but during the second game they set up a tripod camera up in the booth that showed the keyboard and my hands and put me up on the big screen in the middle of the arena so people could watch. It was pretty fun."
For some fans, popcorn can be pretty important to enhance the experience at a hockey game.
The Cougars, currently ranked in second place by members of the Everett Silvertips road staff, are on a quest to claim the top spot from the Vancouver Giants.
As a result, the CN Centre team has invested in two new popcorn makers with four more on order.
"This thing will pop a garbage bag full of popcorn every ten minutes," said Donovan Willick, food service manager at CN Centre, talking about the Gold Medal Popper with automatic oil pump powered by 220 watts. The machine can make 150 large bags of popcorn in an hour.
"So there's no more making popcorn in advance of an event because the machines can keep up," said Willick.
As far as Cougars merchandise like toques, foam claws and stuffies go, there is the retail store that's been rebuilt from a shell of its former self, with two mobile carts that will be on the concourse. Remote debit machines will make the purchasing process much easier.
Communication systems throughout the arena have been upgraded, fibre optics are now part of the facility and even the 50/50 draw system has been updated to include remote feeds for those purchasing tickets.
"Gone are the days of ripping tickets off big rolls," said Beesley, noting that the Pointstreak system cost more than $50,000 to install.
The Prince George Cougars 50/50 Society is a registered non-profit where half the proceeds of the night's tally goes to the lucky fan who wins and the other half goes to the society to be dispersed to charities in the community. The Cougars don't make any money from it at all, Beesley said.
The actual tickets to get into the games has also seen some changes around promotions and sponsors on the back and photos of the players on the front. The team hired a ticket printing company and a professional photographer to take all of the pictures.
There's even a plan for in-stand entertainment.
"Every single person in these seats is going to leave happy," said Braydon Ouellet, manager of game operations and promotions.
There will be someone with a microphone in the stands as well as on-ice intermission contests with great prizes to inspire participation and get the audience's attention, too.
"At the end of the day, no matter what the outcome of the game, as long as people leave the building feeling like they were entertained, my job is done," said Ouellet.
