The Prince George Cougars kicked off their playoffs with the team’s playoff barbeque in the CN Centre parking lot this afternoon. (Tuesday)
There was plenty of buzz in the air, as hundreds of Cougars fans came for hot dogs, autographs and street hockey with the team.
“You just feel the buzz around the town, it’s just awesome how much they support us,” said Cougars rookie defenceman Carson Carels.
“It’s awesome, there’s a lot of juice, a lot of juice here right now, and it just seems like everyone’s happy and enjoying themselves right now,” said Cougars forward Matteo Danis.
“Just a good environment to be in before the playoffs here.”
The Cougars will open the playoffs at the CN Centre Friday against the Portland Winterhawks, the team that eliminated them last year.
“I’m really looking forward to it, it’s exciting,” said Cougars goaltender Josh Ravensbergen.
“We really want to beat them, so we’re really looking forward to it.”
The Winterhawks won last years’ series in double overtime in game six of the Western Conference Finals.
“You got to bottle that feeling up from last year and bring it into next year,” said Cougars forward Koehn Ziemmer.
“We got a rivalry with them now, and we got to come out on top here.”
Last year, Cougars goaltender Cooper Michaluk was on the other side of the Whiteout while he was with the Spokane Chiefs.
“There’s nothing like it, it’s insane, the amount of energy in the building, the amount of fans,” he said.
“This year will be even better with being on the right side of it, and I’m just super excited to see it.”
The Cougars are also growing team mullets for the playoffs.
“It’s just kind of a team thing, we came together, we thought it would be cool if we could, as a team, do something where we all look similar on the ice,” Danis said.
“We’re just doing mullets, it kind of brings the team together.”
He added the team will be growing the playoff beards as well.
“Yesterday (Monday) was the last day to shave, so guys got their clean shaven, and now we’re letting it grow.”
Danis and several other players said Van Eger will have the best playoff beard.
“He shaved it two days ago, and it looks like, mine’s going to look like that in three months,” Danis said.
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