Knowing he's already overspent his budget for the 2017 Telus Cup midget hockey national championship, tournament co-chair John Morrison gladly accepted a $20,000 cheque from the Prince George Cougars 50/50 Society on Friday.
The cost of staging the seven-day, six-team event is close to $400,000 but Morrison is not panicking. He's quite confident ticket-purchasing hockey fans will keep his committee out of the red when they show up to watch the games next week.
"This helps us a ton because we have so many expenses, be it volunteer costs and all the costs of bringing the boys in, because we're responsible for them from the moment they land to the moment they take off and everything in between," said Morrison.
"Ticket sales is our big thing right now. We had hoped for a lot more ticket sales prior to Jan. 1 because it was such a good deal at $59 (for a tournament pass) and at $79 right now it's still a great deal for 19 games."
The host Cariboo Cougars play their first game Monday night against the Leduc Chrysler Oil Kings (Alberta). The tournament also includes the Cape Breton West Islanders (Nova Scotia), Saint-Francois Blizzard (Quebec), Mississauga Rebels (Ontario) and Regina Pat Canadians (Saskatchewan).
Single-game tickets went on sale Friday. The cost for single seats is $5 for games Monday-Friday, $10 each for the two semifinals next Saturday and $15 each for the bronze- and gold-medal game next Sunday.
"The Prince George Cougars from Day 1 (since the new ownership group took over the team three years ago) have said we want to be an integral part of the fabric that makes this a great community and this is a national event coming to Prince George and the Cougars just wanted to be part of it," said Andy Beesley, the WHL Cougars vice-president of business.
"We've donated a lot of our time and our expertise and we've given up our dressing room and our facilities (to the midget Cats) but we also wanted to throw in some cash, too."
In addition to the $20,000 given to the Telus Cup committee, the Cougars Society also donated $40,000 to the Cariboo Cougars to help defray the costs of playing an extended season that's now into its eighth month.
"For the players to have gone to the Mac's tournament and done well and to make the Telus Cup, it's a tremendous financial burden for the parents," said Beesley, who serves on the Telus Cup committee.
"They're usually done a month-and-a half ago, and these parents of all these kids are paying billet fees and meals and expenses and travel back and forth.
"Even though, ultimately, everyone is happy this is happening, it is a real hardship to the team, and that's why we wanted to kick in with our support."
The Cariboo Cougars are invited each year to the Mac's tournament in Calgary over the Christmas break and that trip costs the team in excess of $40,000.
League fees to play in the B.C. Hockey Major Midget League are $7,000 per player.
Parents of the midget players volunteered throughout the season at WHL Cougar games selling 50/50 tickets and a portion of the proceeds the society received from those sales was handed to the team.
Cariboo Cougars head coach Trevor Sprague was given the privilege of accepting the cheque Friday in their dressing room at CN Centre.
"It's a lot of work for the parent group to do but for the hours they put in and for what they get out of it, it's beneficial to the players and the hockey club and the parents, not having to fork out another $1,500 each," said Sprague.
"The relationship we have with the Prince George Cougars is something we started with Dallas and Brandi (Brodsky) and the Brodsky group and having the new ownership come in and Ken Sands (president of the Cougars Society) and Andy Beesley wanted to grow it and make it bigger, which they have. Both teams promote each other well here and it works well."
