Thank you Ben & Elaine for covering this event. It was overwhelming to see such a large number of fans show up, all of whom are craving something to get behind, to cheer for, and most importantly, to feel part of. I am so relieved to finally be able to admit that I’m officially part of the new Cougars, but, now it’s time to roll up our sleeves and EARN our way back into the hearts and minds of this great City.

Its the beginning of the ice age. Thank you Andy, you did the inspirational speech. Hope the cougar players were in the crowd, the fifth line was there.

I think the season ticket sales will top 3000 before the puck drops.

It looks like there were as many people at the rink for the press conference as there has been for some recent games!

Glad to see some energy and interest back in PG when it comes to the Cougars!

I have high hopes for the new management I hope that they can make it work and leave the Brodsky legacy way way behind as a bad memory

Hell Yeah prince george its going to be like the old days so exciting !!!!!

There has not been buzz like this about hockey in PG for many years.

Seems to me you people are whistling when walking past a graveyard.

I suspect that most of the people at the press conference were those who stuck with the Cougers through thick and thin.

It will be a while before we can see if this franchise turns around. The name of the game is fans, which have been an acute shortage for the past 10 years,

Lets see what happens in September.

Palopu, must you always be so negative? Forget it, I already know the answer.

Nonetheless, even if you’re a serious downer like Palopu, you have to admit that it is impressive to get such a crowd to come out at lunchtime on a weekday… considering they can barely scrape together 100 people for an anti-HST or anti-pipeline demonstration.

JB, I agree 100%!!

Since the news broke about the pending sale of the Cougars, I have viewed it as nothing but good news!

I’ve been waiting for the “negative” point of view regarding this story and as usual it didn’t take long.

Gus has not been saying his/her 2 cents worth lately. Wonder what happened to this individual.

You guys wouldn’t know negative if it kicked you in the butt.

An average of 1600 fans per game for approx. 10 years is a pretty good example of negative support for a WHL franchise.

Five or ten years of constantly blaming the owners and manager/coaches for the poor performance of the Cougers is about as negative as you can get.

Isn’t it kind of strange that your constant criticism can be construed as positive, while my analysis of the actual facts, is considered negative..

The positive part of the past 10 years was the fans who stuck with the team. The negative part are the fans that did not support them.

So put that in your pipe and smoke it.

Gus is likely on holiday in Washington State, where Angels sing and Unicorns prance in the fields. At least it seems that way with all the affection that is laid upon the state by Gus.

Back to the story at hand, how can any of this story be looked upon with a negative slant? It is good on too many levels.

Palopu, we’re gonna have to start calling you ‘buzzkill’. You’re a constant ray of sunshine. ;-)

Palopu: “Five or ten years of constantly blaming the owners and manager/coaches for the poor performance of the Cougers is about as negative as you can get.”

Outside of a precious few playoff runs, the team has been bad for 20 years, since they arrived in the City. Management has played a large role in this.

It’s no secret that you hate hockey and hate the Cougars and would love nothing more than to see them gone, but you should at least get your facts straight before spouting off.

Palopu, at least I’ve been going to games for the past five or ten years!! In that time, I’ve seen some pretty lousy games, but I’ve also seem some pretty darn good games! If you were there, you probably heard me, I was the guy cheering loudly!!

Good for you Hart Guy. That’s the kind of support that a team needs. Empty seats don’t exactly inspire a team.

Hopefully in the new season they will turn this ship around. If not, then what’s the point??

New owners, new management, and hopefully get some of the old fans to return.

The joint will be jumping for perpetuity now. I can finally rid myself of being a Canucks fan. Sorry Dan hamhuis, but the team stinks.

Well I plan on going to some games with the new ownership. Finally, some good decisions are being made. I predict some better times ahead for the Cougars.

Let’s keep it up. PG is turning a corner and it’s starting to look good!!!

The reason that the fans, myself included, lost interest is because the absentee owner didn’t seem to give a crap about the on ice performance of the team. He left his incompetent son in law in the GM position while firing numerous coaches in a token effort to show change and possible improvement.
Many fans called for the GM’s head for years and simply got tired of waiting as there was no real hope of any significant improvement in the team as long as Dallas was the one calling the shots.Brodsky’s pig headed stubbornness in letting him run the team so far in the ground cost him a million or two in the sale of the team.

At this level a turn in fortunes can happen pretty quickly if good decisions are made in trades and through the draft. Get a GM with some hockey sense along with some good scouts and the cougars will be playoff bound in a year or two.

Lets hope something happens very soon.

As a taxpayer I do not believe we should be subsidizing a business close to $600,000 a year! Do not care if it hockey or not…

Why, just because someone like Palapou states facts does that make him/her a negative person? Facts are facts. They are only negative to those who disagree with them.

If the majority of people didn’t want the Cougars in town, and really didn’t like subsidizing a business through their taxes to stay in town, any opinion to the contrary would be deemed as ‘negative’ by them.

It is a point of view. Nothing more nor less. And it is the wide variety of views – especially those diametrically opposite – that make reading the comment section of any news site interesting.

The more a site controls the comments, the less I am inclined to read it, and go to ones where they are.

Palapou’s points on this issue are pertinent whether others like what he had to say or not.

No jetstream, Palapu is just negative. Heshe is stating opinions, not facts. HeShe is one of the reasons I quit reading comments on here, makes me sad to see someone who is soooo miserable and so anxious to share hisher misery with everyone else.

Love all the ‘financial experts’ chiming in. A handful of the most successful guys in PG think it’s a good investment, but somehow you just know better.

Here’s a tip for you. Even if the team broke even every year, this ownership group would be happy. It isn’t about generating a huge profit for them, not at this point. Do you really think you understand the dynamics of what they invested in, more than they do?

Go worry about your next car payment, leave the financial worry with this group of guys, who obviously know a little more than most of us in this city.

Wholey crap go read Palopu’s comments again JB/HomeInPG and explain why they are so negative! So they have new owners big deal. Did they get a whole new player base? All he is saying in his first comment is the folks that showed up were most likely the dedicated fans that always show up and the team has to prove itself come September!

I for one would not throw money at seasons tickets until I see some positive changes. The only negative comments I see are negative comments about Palopu’s comments.

This is gonna be awesome. As an outsider moving here 2 years ago I was shocked at the lack of support. I began to understand why, and now have a good handle on it. I am going to love constantly going to the games with a lively crowd!

Noway: “All he is saying in his first comment is the folks that showed up were most likely the dedicated fans that always show up and the team has to prove itself come September! “

And that’s his opinion based on his well established negative-slanted view of the team. The reality is that he doesn’t know who showed up or what their backgrounds are.

From Palopu’s very first sentence: “Seems to me you people are whistling when walking past a graveyard.” it tels you a lot of what he thinks about the Cougars. Let’s not confuse anything he says with ‘fact’. Most of it is plain old opinion.

Please hire hockey people to run the hockey side. A GM with real chops who can put a 3 to 5 year plan together and stick with it. Go out in the league and head hunt one that’s already successful if you have to.
I appreciate the local guys who stepped up to keep this franchise in PG. I would like to hear less of the fluff regarding slogans and community involvement and more about the hockey plan. I guess we will have to wait and see who they hire. The new group will get a free pass for a period of time but they still need to produce a hard working team that wins more than they lose in order to keep PG fans coming to the rink. Nepotism killed the earlier version of the Cougars. You can’t keep making excuses for losing, firing coach after coach and maintaining the status quo in the front office. If the owner wasn’t willing to change his manager, I wasn’t willing to continue to pay for my seasons tickets.
The long term fan base that stuck through the hard times should be congratulated on hanging in there for such a long time. Leaving a sinking ship doesn’t make you a bad person (unless you’re the captain)and I will be purchasing my seasons tickets again to show my personal support for the team and the new group. Good luck to the Brodsky bunch wherever they end up. I don’t think we will be seeing his son-in-law managing a WHL team any time soon.

Being a WHL fan has always been a 4 year cycle. You buy your season ticket now – even though the team isn’t really any good. But the way the league is rigged, you get to draft first when you suck, and year two, your team is a little better, year three, even better, year four, awesome – 3rd round of playoffs at least, and because you had a ticket in year one, you got great seats for year 3 and 4 playoffs, and then back to year 1 again. Cougars seemed to be perpetually stuck bouncing between year 1 and 2 because they didn’t have a competent GM or scouting staff, plus, it’s not the best city from a travel point of view, and they lacked precious few NHL contacts to make prospects want to come.

That has changed. If the Cougars call, you know that Brewer and Hamhuis will know your name, which means scouts will hear your name. And, if we get a competent GM, who also has plenty of NHL tie-in, even better. This is a completely different game we’re in now. And what’s even better, is if the Cougars do make money, it’ll be going into the pockets of guys who live here, and spend here, not off to Arizona.

…. Just as an aside, the hot dogs sucked, a whole tray burnt when I went through. A one bite toss.

Who else would go except a die hard fan and folks who don’t work at that time day! As far as the grave yard comment goes well the only thing that has changed from the last year is the owners. Time will tell if they can turn the team around.

If they do start filling the seats the question will be how many drunk fans will they have to throw out? I seen too many non drunk fans toshed out to never go back again no matter how good the team is! Now throw booze into the mix!!!!! Weeee!

This is such exciting news. Maybe Chara will come back
And some of the other players who started here.

NoWay: “Who else would go except a die hard fan and folks who don’t work at that time day!”

Lots of people, including those who used to go to games and people who didn’t go to games before and are now considering it.

There’s the curiosity factor, to see what the new owners have to say and gauge what their commitment is to putting together a winning franchise.

You’re correct in that it will take time to turn the team around — but it is somewhat encouraging to see such a large number of people, no matter who they are, at that time of the day.

The comment about whistling while going by a graveyard, is about pretending not to be afraid of ghosts.

All the so called positive comments about the increase in fans because of new owners, etc; are hype by a certain bunch of individuals, however those comments by themselves will not make a difference. Wishing it was so, will not make it so.

This situation calls for actual attendance on a regular basis for this franchise to become a viable business’s opportunity. Lets remember at the end of the day, its a business, nothing more, nothing less.

My point is that one cannot just assume that all the people that attended these games in the first five years, are still in Prince George, still alive, and last but not least still interested in hockey on a regular basis.

We cannot assume that all these fans left for the same reasons as given by some who post here. I for one believe a lot of them left because they are no longer interested, have moved, have grown up and have children, etc; etc; etc;.

Now, we can assume that a large number of new fans have grown up during the same time period, however how many will actually attend games will be determined in the next couple of years for this team.

…. Just as an aside, the hot dogs sucked, a whole tray burnt when I went through. A one bite toss.