The Prince George Cougars were just as successful at the gate as they were on the ice during the 2016-17 regular season.
The average crowd this year was 3,626 which is an increase of 500 fans from last year.
Vice President of Business Andy Beesley says the hockey club is on an upward trend.
“This is our third straight year of having significant attendance increases and in an environment where several teams are struggling to stay even keel with their attendance, the Prince George Cougars and our community has been fantastic in supporting what’s going on and seeing more and more fans every game.”
Beesley adds they want to provide fans the best bang for their buck. “We have lots of giveaways and lot of musical entertainment and all in all it is a hockey game but game with lots of entertainment surrounding it.”
The Cougars are extremely pleased with the on-ice and entertainment product despite a recent comment. “One of the funniest things we ever heard was somebody criticising us saying the reason we are raising attendance is through smoke and mirrors and all sorts of gimmicks. We all laughed back in our office and said absolutely, we’re going to have more smoke, more mirrors because people want to be entertained.”
Some of the big promotional highlights include two Mega Jackpots and Lumberjack Night.
The attendance mark is the Cougars highest since the 2002-03 WHL season where they averaged 4,386 fans.
The all-time attendance high for the Cougars since they arrived in Prince George was 5,801 set during the 1999-2000 season.
The Cougars won their first BC Division crown in the franchise’s 23-year history on Saturday.
Prince George hosts the Portland Winterhawks in game 1 of the Western Conference quarterfinal playoff series starting on Friday at 7pm from CN Centre.
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