Cat Scratch fever back?

“It was an imposing place,” says Russ Farwell with the Seattle Thunderbirds. “And the fans were into it and the kids even would see it walking down the street. I mean, people were the whole city. We had embraced that. were 100% supporting the team. I guess is the best way to put it.”

Andy Beesley was a fan at the time of Cat Scratch Fever before eventually working for the club. He recalls the ticket frenzy.

“Back then, I was a casual fan and I got caught up in the fever and was so desperate to get tickets along with everybody else. And getting tickets was a real homework assignment. First, you have to research where to call and how this all works. And then I remember setting my watch precisely to the Canada Research time signal to make sure it was exactly correct. Waking up super early and then dialing all the numbers except the last one to a box office back east and then waiting exactly till the second hand hit the top of the hour and then mashing the last button. And then you just cross your fingers and hope that you’re not too late. A couple of times I was too late already.”

The Prince George Cougars played their first season in 1994-95 season at the Prince George Coliseum, along with the Spruce Kings, until the construction of the team’s own arena was complete, then called the Multiplex. In an amazing coup, the Cougars swept the Winterhawks, the first playoff run of the young team.

The Cats achieved their first sweep of the Kamloops Blazers in a best-of-seven-game series in 2007.

On March 19, 2014 that a team of local investors led by Greg Pocock, along with NHLers and former Cougars Dan Hamhuis and Eric Brewer, had agreed in principle to purchase the team.

And here we are today back in the playoffs. It’s feeding time.

by Cheryl Jahn

Cat Scratch fever back?

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