The rafters have been bare at CN Centre for 23 years.
When the Prince George Cougars started playing in the Multiplex, as it was known when it first opened, in September of 1994, there was no Google or Facebook. Steve Jobs hadn't returned to Apple yet to usher in the era of iTunes, iPods, iPads and, most importantly, iPhones.
None of this year's Cougars players were born yet.
Tonight, finally, at long last, the Cougars will raise their first banner, as 2016-17 B.C. Division regular season champions, during their 2017-2018 season opener against the Spokane Chiefs.
The 45-21-3-3 record last season will be forgotten. So will the fact the Cougars were running away with the division at Christmas and needed a single point in their last regular-season game against the Kamloops Blazers to claim the division title.
But the banner - that's forever.
"Nobody asks how," the old sports phrase goes, "they ask how many."
This is a joyful day for EDGEPRO Sports and Entertainment, the local ownership group led by Greg Pocock, with support from Cougars alumni Eric Brewer and Dan Hamhuis.
Pocock and his team invested heavily with both their time and money to turn around a Western Hockey League franchise that was withering on the vine under the previous ownership.
Today's Cougars bear little resemblance to the team five years ago. The success on the ice is only the most obvious change. Behind the scenes, everything has changed. A culture of professionalism and accountability, running from the players to the coaches to management and staff, has infiltrated the entire franchise.
This is a team that now takes itself and everything it does very seriously, including having fun and making games into glitzy, loud productions where there is something always going on, from the pre-game skate to the three stars announcement.
The right people, the right attitude, the willingness to change, take chances, learn from mistakes and work tirelessly - these are the necessary attributes for any successful business, including a junior hockey franchise.
It certainly hasn't been easy. The team has gone through people, not just players but at the staff and coaching level, to find the right mix. It takes a winning team off the ice to put a winning team on the ice and that finally came together last season.
Success fuels passion for more success and the Cougars, from its ownership down, want more. They only need to look as far as Kelowna, the team that nearly caught them for the B.C. division title last spring, to see both the competition, as well as the franchise, they'd like to be.
The Rockets, under the leadership of owner Bruce Hamilton, moved to Kelowna from Tacoma the year after the Cougars moved to Prince George from Victoria.
In the 22 years the Rockets have been in Kelowna, the Rockets have won seven regular season banners, four Western Hockey League playoff championship banners and a Memorial Cup banner, the Stanley Cup of junior hockey in Canada.
They have missed the playoffs just once.
This is what the Cougars want to bring to Prince George but the road ahead remains difficult.
Prince George is the most geographically isolated team in the entire Western Hockey League. Cougars players spend more time on the bus and sleeping in hotel rooms each season than anyone in the three major junior hockey leagues in Canada.
And then there's the fans.
While there are many longtime and religiously loyal fans of this team, Prince George is filled with fickle hockey fans that have every excuse in the book, from ticket prices to the food to the officiating to the loud music, for why they can't support this team more.
It is an ongoing battle, for both the Cougars and the Junior A Spruce Kings of the B.C. Hockey League, to convince local residents that supporting local junior hockey is a good use of their time and money.
The Spruce Kings are off to a blazing start - their best in five years - and remain undefeated after four games heading into action today.
The Cougars have done their part, winning that banner, which will be raised to its permanent home in the rafters over the ice at CN Centre tonight.
The only thing that will make that banner look even better is if it is quickly joined by more of them.
- Neil Godbout, Editor-in-chief
