PG Cougars President Greg Pocock sits in his office at the CN Centre – photo 250 News

Prince George, B.C. – As the Prince George Cougars prepare for their first season under new ownership there’s probably few people as busy and excited in PG as President Greg Pocock who says it all starts with renovations to CN Centre.

“For those people that haven’t seen it we have invested heavily as far as making this building the premiere building, the premiere experience for players and the place they’re going to want to come and play hockey.”

He says they’ve already seen that with start of training camp when over 100 players showed up to try out.

“The feedback we got this weekend was just over the top. They were excited to be part of this, they hear what’s going on and they feel the buzz in the community.”

Cougars Coach Mark Holik & Play-by-Play Announcer Dan O’Connor hang out in the coaches room – photo 250 News

And Pocock is also excited to be a part of the new ownership group.

“It’s going great, it really is. I go to bed at night exhausted and my head barely hits the pillow. I don’t get to watch Sports Centre anymore because I can’t stay awake through it. Andy and I (Andy Beesley, Vice President, Business) have routinely been working 15 hour days.”

He admits running a sports business is different from the other business he runs in town but notes there is one major similarity.

“A successful business is based on people and we have exceptionally good people on our hockey side. Just this weekend having all our coaches finally in one place and having our General Manager here and running the show we’re in good hands.”

He says they’ve actually drawn from one of the WHL’s model franchises – the Portland Winterhawks – for advice.

“President Doug Piper and his staff have just been exceptionally cooperative and helpful to us and our staff. Andy Beesley and his marketing team has literally spent entire days on conference calls with Portland discussing and learning how they run their system. They were a huge help on our marketing program and our new ticket packages are based on recommendations that came from that interaction with them.”

As for goals for the upcoming season Pocock promises the Cougars will “be competitive and entertaining,” and admits it’s his expectation the team will make the playoffs.

He promises that will be helped along by forward Jansen Harkins who is entering his sophomore season with the team.

“Jansen is a star on this club. He just won a gold medal for Team Canada (Ivan Hlinka tournament) and he is absolutely a first round draft pick – he’s the real deal.

Pocock says he also has certain business expectations including increased attendance over last year (dead last in the WHL, 1,693 average per game).

“We are somewhere approaching four times the number of tickets sold relative to last year at this time. We are expecting that the number of people in the building is going to be significantly up.”

He says fans won’t want to miss opening night.

“You won’t want to miss it. It will be an extravaganza unlike anything you’ve ever seen here before.”

Renovations are underway in the Cougars dressing room – 250 News