The buzz that hung over at CN Centre a couple of weeks ago while the Prince George Cougars setting themselves up to beat the Victoria Royals for a crucial 2-1 victory was noticeable and it left hockey fans in Prince George hungry for more.
There was energy in the building and with 2,759 fans in the seats watching every move on the ice and showing their appreciation for outstanding plays, it was fun for the fans and for the hockey players just to be part of the scene.
Now with the Cougars in the postseason for the first time in five seasons, playoff fever is starting to spread and Iain Scott, the Cougars director of business, says there’s only one cure for it – come out and show your support for the Cougars.
“That was nice to pay the fans off with a win,” said Scott. “We’ve seen it a couple times this year (when Cougar crowds came close to 3,000) and it’s great. The players love it and when you get rowdy and loud fans in the building it just builds and people feed off it.”
Sellout crowds were the norm, especially during the Cougars playoff runs in 1997, 2000 and 2007, when they got as far as the third round. The Sea of White with rows of fans dressed in white and waving towels became known around the league and MasterCard came to the city to film a commercial during a playoff game just to capture the moment. Years of missing the playoffs or first-round playoff exits resulted in Cougar fans losing interest and it’s been tough to get that back.
“We want to make this a tough building to play in,” said Scott. “We’ve heard stories about how it used to be one of the most feared places to come up to and we want to bring that back.
“We want it to be an experience, you’re not just going to watch hockey. You’re going to hang out with people, you’re going to talk, and to support the local team. We haven’t sold as many (tickets) as we’d like and once games get going on Friday and Saturday that should help as well.”
The Cats open the playoffs on the road in Portland, Ore., against the heavily favoured Portland Winterhawks and after games south of the border Friday and Saturday, the series switches to CN Centre for Games 3 and 4 Tuesday and Wednesday.
It wasn’t until the second-last day of the season the Cougars clinched their playoff spot and that didn’t leave the club a lot of time to mount its playoff ticket sales campaign. To try to get more fans into the building, the Cougars are holding the line on ticket prices and walk-up prices on seats for the first round will cost the same as they did in the regular season, starting at $16 each and $150 for a group of 10.
“To make playoffs as the youngest team in the league is no small feat,” said Scott. “Our slogan has been ‘The Northern Uprising,’ for a few years and this is fans’ first chance to really see it in action in the postseason. Our leading guys as far as points go (Riley Heidt and Koehn Ziemmer) aren’t draft-eligible until next year.”
If the series goes beyond four games, Game 5 would be played Saturday, April 30 in Portland, Game 6 (if needed) would be played Monday, May 2 in Prince George and Game 7 is scheduled for Portland on Wednesday, May 4.
The Cougars were the underdogs 25 years ago, ranked sixth in their division when they took on the top-ranked Winterhawks and Prince George ended up beating the ‘Hawks in a six-game series in April 1997 that brought sellout crowds on nearly 6,000 to the building formerly known as the Prince George Multiplex.
“On our Facebook comments now we’re hearing from people talking about the previous runs and playing Portland in the first round as an underdog and there’s a storyline there that people are willing to latch on to, and if we can get a little momentum that would be nice,” said Scott, who took over his position with the Cougars from Andy Beesley, who left the team in January to become the city’s director of recreation and events.
“Everyone loves an underdog and then you win a couple games and all of a sudden people start believing and you prove them right.”
Cougar tickets are available at the CN Centre box office Tuesday-Friday starting at 10 a.m., or online at the Cougars' Ticket Central portal. For group sales call Cougars account executive Kevin Patenaude at 250-596-9964.
