COUGARS OWNERSHIP EYES WHL REVIVAL.
PRINCE GEORGE — Greg Pocock had thought about purchasing the WHL’s Prince George Cougars for several years.
Now that they’re his — at least in part — he leaves no stone unturned.
“Probably one of the things I haven’t done well is paid attention to my other businesses,” said Pocock, 53, the Cougars co-owner, president and managing partner, before Tuesday’s game against the Saskatoon Blades.
“They’ve kind of suffered for the sake of the hockey team.”
Pocock has his hands in a lot of pies in Prince George.
He owns a manufacturing company that builds petroleum tankers, a pulp and paper service company and real estate development and transportation businesses as well.
So when Rick Brodsky decided he would sell the Cougars, Pocock had the financial means and jumped at the chance.
Brodsky was once part of the Blades ownership team before he bought the Victoria Cougars in 1992 and moved them to Prince George two years later.
His siblings sold the Blades to Mike and Colin Priestner in September 2013.
Pocock bought the Cougars along with local businessmen Ray Fortier, Ernest Ouellet and John Pateman and former Cougars defencemen and current NHLers Dan Hamhuis and Eric Brewer.
The transfer of ownership was approved in April.
Prince George had been a black hole on the WHL landscape for years. Commissioner Ron Robison had publicly expressed his concern over dwindling attendance figures.
Pocock and company are trying to revitalize the scene.
“It’s trying to bring attention to detail and a real professionalism to the organization,” he said. “It’s starting to come at all levels.”
“This community needs a team like the Prince George Cougars. We just had to find the guys that were willing and able to put this back on the map.”
Pocock is a hockey guy. He once coached former Cougars star Brett Connolly in bantam triple-A.
It didn’t take him long to realize that the Cougars home rink, the CN Centre, needed some major upgrades.
Pocock tore apart the dressing room, transforming “what was a dark, square, musty old room (into what) is now a round, bright, pleasant environment.”
The new ownership group footed the bills in the cityowned rink.
Pocock went down to Vancouver and Hamhuis showed him what the Canucks players had at their disposal.
He added cold tubs, revamped the players’ lounge and coaches’ office, bought a new skate sharpener, put in more exercise equipment and even brought in new laundry machines and dryers — cutting down cleaning times to two hours from eight.
“It’s not like we have a desire to have everything new,” Pocock said. “We needed it.
“It really wasn’t an enjoyable atmosphere (before). How can they perform like that?”
Not only that, but they completely changed the way the hockey operations group operates.
They use video equipment that, among other things, tracks players shift lengths. They allow the team to leave earlier for road trips.
General manager Todd Harkins said in the past the Cougars would leave Wednesday night for a Friday night game in Vancouver and drive through the night.
Now they’ll leave in the morning and arrive in Vancouver by the evening. It costs an extra night in a hotel, but it allows for an extra day of practice.
Results on the ice have been consistently inconsistent as the Cougars were 15-15-0-0 before their game against the Blades.
But head coach Mark Holick has all the resources — including an additional assistant coach — at his disposal to turn around a team that has missed the playoffs in each of the last three seasons.
“They’ve just provided our team with anything we need to have success,” he said. “They’re trying to take away the excuses.”
Fans are buying in as well.
The Cougars averaged just 1,693 fans per game last season, easily the lowest total in the league.
They’re up to 2,709 per contest through 17 games, according to Kamloopsbased WHL blogger Gregg Drinnan.
It doesn’t help that the Cougars have an unfavourable schedule as 22 of their 36 home dates this season take place mid-week.
Pocock has been to all but one of the home games and all but two on the road.
He knows there’s still a ways to go in Prince George, but he’s confident he’s off to a good start.
“A lot of people want to see what we’re doing for the kids. When they see what we’ve done with the kids and how that’s playing out, they’re willing to come out and support the team,” he said.
“It’s been a hard sell, there’s no question. It didn’t come just because of the change in ownership. We had to earn it on an ongoing, daily basis. We have to continue to earn it. We’re committed to doing that.”