Cougars Host Blazers Friday and Saturday At CN Centre

Friday, December 17, 2010 10:35 AM

Like Cariboo Cougars teammate Chase Witala at the start of the month, defenceman Raymond Grewal will make his WHL regular season debut for his hometown Cougars. Grewal, a fifth round pick of the Cougars in the 2010 WHL Bantam Draft, steps into the Cougars line-up Friday against the Kamloops Blazers, the only team between the Cougars and the Christmas Break.

The Cougars and Blazers have met three times this season, all in Kamloops, with the Cougars taking the last two get-togethers. After the Blazers opened the season series with a 5-2 win on September 24, the Cougars came back with 8-1 and 7-5 victories on October 16 and November 27. Prince George is playing the second game of eight straight at home, with the home stand opening with a 6-0 victory Tuesday over the Swift Current Broncos. The Cougars leading scorer in three games against the Blazers this season is Martin Marincin, who has collected two goals and eight points, including a goal and three assists in the last head-to-head showdown. But with Marincin joining Team Slovakia at the 2011 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championship in Buffalo and 17-year old defenceman Jesse Forsberg out with an ankle injury, the 15-year old Grewal has been called up to join the Cougars. Grewal has two goals and 14 points in 24 games this season for the Cariboo Cougars of the BC Major Midget Hockey League.

The Cougars enter the game sitting third in the BC Division with a 16-14-2-1 record, but their 33 points is just two back of division leading Vancouver. The Blazers are 15-16-1-1 and have 32 points and have dropped three of their last four.

Puck drop is 7:00pm at CN Centre. The Yellowhead Rotary Club of Prince George is collecting food donations at Friday's game, which will go to the Prince George Food Bank. Tickets are available by calling Ticketmaster at 250-564-5585.

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Posted on Friday, December 17, 2010 10:35 AM in Sports by 250 News

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Comments

Posted by: JamesToney on December 17 2010 10:51 AM

bring back fighting in hockey on a regular basis and more people will come watch

Posted by: Rounder on December 17 2010 2:09 PM

The lack of fighting isn't the problem. This team is probably the most talented group since the late '90's and early '00's.

It would be nice to see the CN Centre with more fans in the stands for these final games before Xmas. People have said they would support the team once they put a better product on the ice, well I think it's time the fans lived up to their side of the deal. The Cougars have a winning record and they have some of the top players in the WHL.

Then you have people who won't support the team because of Brodsky. Is it fair to these players? Wouldn't it be nice to play in front of a larger crowd at home? Let's show these kids what it was like 10 years ago to play in the loudest arena in the WHL.

What happened to the league's best fans?

And a simple note to the organization - I'm sure most of you have taken some kind of business class (maybe economics), it all comes down to supply and demand, etc.

Lower your ticket prices to get more fans through the doors. More fans = more concession revenue. Crowds attract larger crowds.

You have put together a great team, now give them some happy fans and everyone will get to experience what real hockey is about.

Posted by: Palopu on December 17 2010 9:45 PM

Rounder. The leagues best fans are those who stuck with the team through good times and bad. They are the ones that are still going to the games.

Attendence to-night was 1786 fans, who knows how many of these were season tickets with the owners not in attendence.

Your tickets are already about as low as you can go, and still make a dollar. (Brodsky makes money, the City loses)

The fans that were attending when the Cougers first came to town are long gone. Girls became Mothers, Boys became Fathers, but most of all the fair weather fans became bored and went on to other things.

Contrary to the **Urban Legend** Prince George has never been a great Hockey town.

I suspect that a lot of fans are in the Casino where it is nice and warm, trying to double their money.