'...Cougars captain Eric Hunter said the players were shocked by the dismissals but admitted the on ice performance had been lacking.'

Then get off your bums and start playing hockey like a winning team.

Doesnt work that way Jethro. If you have 10 Teams at the end of the season you have only 1 Winner. The rest are also rans. You will always have a number 10. The Cougers have a long way to go to be number 1. In fact it may never happen.

I think thats part of the problem with the team...the coaches are the scapegoats. I dont pretend to know enough about the Cougars situation...but I know for sure the players arent playing hard enough at all (which cannot fall completely on the coaches). What about player accountability?

If I was GM I would "fire" a couple of those players. Or at least sit their asses out, send em home for a few days to re-evaluate their hockey plans.

It could very well be the coaches needed to go...but the organization needs to have player accountability also.

Can someone name all the coaches in the team's 12-year history in PG? Bonus points if you can name them in order, including interim coaches.

I've been in P.G. for 5 years. The Cougars have had a loosing record the whole time. They don't have the same coach as 5 years ago, they don't have the same players as 5 years ago. The only thing they have from 5 years ago, is the G.M./owner's son in law.Maybe it's time to find a qulified G.M. that can bring some talent to P.G.

Can someone name all the coaches in the team's 12-year history in PG? Bonus points if you can name them in order, including interim coaches.

I agree with Rabbit, the next step should be to get rid of the Brodsky/Thompson duo that run the Cougars. Coaches have changed, players have changed, but the front office remains the same. got to be a message there, but then s--t always flows downhill.

And the next question will be, how long will it take for Brodsky's pal Jim Swanson to write a column about what a horrible coach this Vandekamp guy was, the way he absolutely ripped into Dempsey after he was fired. Real class act, that, kicking a guy when he's down, after having said nothing negative about him the whole time he was actually behind the bench.

And then, Jimmy S will criticize the fans for not supporting poor old Rick, whose only failing is that he loved Prince George so much.

When you have a mostly losing but never better than mediocre team for 12 years, you can't blame anyone but senior management.

Ageed Banana.

Swanson is brutal for that. The only thing the vast majority of his columns are good for is lining birdcages. And the only thing bigger than his love for the Cougars brass is his own ego.

The sad part in all this is that Prince George is a WHL city...period. But repeated mediocrity can only keep tickets selling for so long. When the team wins with consistancy, the fans will be back. Until then, 2500-3000 will be the norm.

Well he won't be fired....
but maybe he should!

THE BRODSKY FAMILY SHOULD LOOK IN THE MIRROR FOR THE PROBLEM. SEVEN COACHES IN TWELVE YEARS,HMMM.... NO FAN SUPPORT, HMMM. MAYBEE YOU PEOPLE SHOULD SELL THE CLUB AND CUT YOUR LOSSES. IMO UNDER NEW OWNERS THE RINK WOULD BE FULL AND WE WOULD HAVE A WINNING ATTITUDE. THIS IS A STRONG HOCKEY CITY AND WE DESERVE BETTER. DO THE HOCKEY FANS OF PRINCE GEORGE A GOOD DEED,SELL OUT SO WE CAN START TO ENJOY THE WHL LIKE WE SHOULD..

How much is a night out to see the Cougars for a family of four or five? $50-$60? If there's no fire in the fan there's no motivation to buy tickets. It's like a play with a brutal review or that Ben Afleck/J-Lo movie. No one's gonna go see it or rent it. If the product sucks.....what can you expect. It often makes sense to look down the road and see what successful clubs are doing. What's Kelowna and Vancouver got that we don't got? Maybe they've got money, population, better weather and other things that we don't have. Maybe it's time to admit that PG is out of it's league and throw in the towel. Wouldn't bother me none.

I agree with Banananuthead.

You know, look at a guy like Brent Sutter. Toiled for years in the NHL as a checking defensive guy, never wasted his money, came back home and invested his money in a WHL team. He's the coach, the GM, and I have heard he even drove the team bus some time. Brent Sutter coached the world junior team to two gold medals, and is a huge success in hockey circles. No one could ever accuse Brent Sutter of having anything handed to him.

Do you think he's going to ever be a friend of Dallas Thompson?

Would you as a parent after spending countless hours and dollars want to send your kid to an organization that is as horribly run as this one? I know the organization does not a player make, and that a player will make the show in spite of coaching and all. However, if you wanted your kid to learn the value of earning your keep, would you send them to a team run by this joker?

Steeliepete has it right. Even with 4000 fans per game this Multiplex will still lose $200,000.00 per year. Its time to throw in the towel and go on to something else.

If fan attendence falls to average 2500 fans per game Brodsky will not make any money;, so if we dont make the decision he will. He's in it for the bucks, and if the bucks arnt their then neither is he. At 4000 fans per game he will be laughing all the way to the bank, but the City will still be losing money.

Let's get this straight: you think that a facility that is losing money with 36 guaranteed nights a year will not lose money if the team leaves? Do arithmetic much?

And really, expecting that public facilities will always break even or make money is ludicrous. How much does money does garbage pickup make? How much money does the sewer system collect? Do the street sweepers make a profit? What about the other arenas: do the Kin Centers turn a profit? The Elksentre? The Coliseum, which is empty six months a year?

What you have is a decent facility that is available for a variety of purposes -- entertainment, sports, recreation, cultural, even religious. No, it should not be allowed to be mismanaged where it's a big monetary sinkhole. But requiring that it break even or turn a profit before you support them is foolishly short-sighted.

Things cost money. The multiplex referendum passed pretty solidly, so people wanted it. Now we have it.

Name all the Cougars coaches? Where's my phone book?

Banananuthead. Why do you and others insist on calling this Multiplex a public facility. Yes it was built with public money, with the intention of making enough money from the Cougers and other venues to make it a paying proposition. 90% of the Venues in this building are Private Business, such as all the Entertainment such as Barenaked Ladies, Gordon Lightfoot, etc; plus the Cougers. All these people make a profit off the use of this building. Cougers owners gross approx $1,500,000.00 per year, and Im sure that not to many entertainers go away empty handed.
The other facilities you mention provide a public service, and are utilized by various Citizen groups such as Junior Hockey, Senior Hockey et al.
If the City was to increase the rent to the Cougers, who in turn would have to increase the price of tickets, they would lose more fans, and therefore more money.

There is a pretty good chance that if all the ice that is used by the Cougers were available for other venues the losses could be reduced.

The bottom line is this. If fan support continues to fall, the Cougers owners will pull this team out of Prince George, and they could care less whether you lose more or less money with them gone. I suggest that you better have some sort of a plan for this building if they leave.

The Multiplex Referendum passed the same way as other Referendums in this town, with all the Money, and Hype, from the City (With taxpayers dollars) and various community groups etc;.

Not once during the referendum did you hear that if we built this building that it would cost us $350,000.00 a year to run it. Or over a 5 year period it would cost us somewhere in the area of $1,750,000.00. Had the City and the various supportors of this facility told us that, it would never have been built.

It time for some fiscal responsibility and for someone to admit that they made a serious mistake.