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Blunders to blame for empty seats

No, it's not global warning, it is the vanishing of the Prince George Cougars "New Ice Age" as coined by the new owners when they took over ownership of the team.
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No, it's not global warning, it is the vanishing of the Prince George Cougars "New Ice Age" as coined by the new owners when they took over ownership of the team.

For the first couple of seasons under the new regime, the future started out great with lots of promise. An exciting hard working group of players created an atmosphere of renewed interest in the team and an increase in fan support.

Then some owner and management blunders abruptly turned team fortunes into a downward spiral. At trade deadline 2017, the hard-working and cohesive team spirit was decimated by trading away the heart and soul of the team for a dubious bunch of non-performing talent. Coupled with a business management decision to revamp and increase ticket prices in what turned out to be a rebuilding year, another catastrophic blunder.

The dilemma facing the team today is a result of these bad management decisions made two years ago. Last year's mantra was that we are the envy of many other teams and the future is bright due to all the raw young talent that has been assembled. This season is rapidly coming to a conclusion and in fact the team has regressed into last place in the conference with the lowest output of goals in the entire league.

During the Brodsky ownership era, we had a number of under-performing years but each season we always had four or five players and who were exciting to watch and had the talent for scoring goals. Today we have none and the future for next season looks dismal.

The only way to attract fans back to the arena is to assemble a team of energetic, hardworking and entertaining players with a winning record and some revision to the ticket pricing. Raising ticket prices can only be justified when there is value for the entertainment. Mega 50/50s and other quirky gimmicks do no attract and keep loyal hockey fans.

Also, the demographics of who comes out to hockey games is changing. Look around the arena on game days and the majority of spectators are middle-aged and elderly folks. Younger up-and-coming generations do not seem to have a great desire to attend.

A Western Hockey League team is a definite asset to the city and surrounding district but keeping it here as a viable operation is going to be a struggle.

Good luck on their endeavours.

Al Cameron

Prince George