A Hockey Town? Not anymore

[Teacher]

2660 showed up to a Cougar 4-1 win as the team goes to 4-1?

Prince George is quickly proving itself to be a Tier II town, and even then they could not fill the building for a National Championship run.

If I were ownership I would be knocking on the door of the new Abbotsford Rec centre, all 8000 seats and 175 000 people in the Abby area. vc178

On a positive note at least there are only two more home games until the 9 game road trip. At least there will be a chance that the hardworking Cougars will play in front of solid crowds!!

What a sad comment on a supposed hockey town with it's rich history of hockey.

[Cougar Guy]

What a sad comment on a supposed hockey town with it's rich history of hockey

A few points:

- You should also take a look at minor hockey enrollment and the availibility of ice time as an indicator of whether hockey is still popular in this town . . .
- The history of the Cougars in PG, the fan support and the reasons why attendance dropped are well documented and I'm not going to go into them again. Suffice to say that it will take more than a 4-1 start in a single season to get many of those fans back.
- There are literally thousands of people in the immediate area who have been laid off or who are on reduced shifts. There is probably an equal amount of people still working but with a somewhat unknown future. Going to hockey games likely isn't a priority for these folks and they are probably right smack in the middle of the target market for the Cougars.

I'm looking forward to the game tonight as it will be my first of the year. If the team can keep playing like they are and more importantly, keep playing hard all game (like it sounds like they have been), the fans will come back. It will take time, just like it took time for the crowds to go from 5,500+ to where they are now. Don't expect miracles until the organization can show that they they are able to field this type of team with consistency. PG is an extremely loyal town, but that can be a double edged sword depending on the relationship that exists . . .

[the flying moose]

I know quite a few people that had seasons tickets last year that are not able to afford them this season, so money is a factor.

Also, the Citizen had there 1000 ticket giveaway to subscribers this past week. All the tickets were gone in two days. Last year I think they said it took a week to get rid of most of them.