Prince George hockey fans are awfully lucky.
For 25 years they've had the luxury of watching some of the best hockey players in the world play their games as representatives of the city, first at the building formerly known as the Prince George Coliseum (now Rolling Mix Concrete Arena) and, ever since 1995, the Prince George Multiplex (now called CN Centre).
Many of those world-class players who have worn Prince George Cougars jerseys have gone on to play pro hockey. Some former Cougars have even won the Stanley Cup. There was forward/defenceman Dustin Byfuglien in 2010 with the Chicago Blackhawks, defenceman Zdeno Chara in 2011 as captain of the Boston Bruins, and winger Brett Connolly with Washington in 2018.
Two Olympic champions - Eric Brewer in 2006 and Dan Hamhuis in 2010 - played their junior days as defencemen for the Cougars and now are part owners of the team.
So when it came down to picking the Cougars' all-time top-25 Dream Team, those five were automatic, no-brainer choices.
As one of the Cougars' 25th anniversary projects, team staff members and a media panel put their heads together to choose 20 of the 25 Dream Team players, leaving five spots on the team up to Cougar fans. It wasn't easy making those picks.
In no specific order, here are the top-20, as chosen by the Cougars and media.
Forwards: Connolly, Byfuglien, Blair Betts, Nick Drazenovic, Trent Hunter, Chris Falloon, Ronald Petrovicky, Troy Bourke, Quinn Hancock, Jansen Harkins, Tyler Bouck, Devin Setoguchi and Dana Tyrell. Defencemen: Brewer, Hamhuis, Chara, Christian Chartier, Joel Kwiatkowski and Sheldon Souray. Goalie: Chris Mason.
The final five on the top-25 list were chosen by Cougar fans in an online line poll posted on the Citizen website, www.pgcitizen.ca. It was up to the fans to choose three forwards from a list of five candidates, two defenceman from a list of three, and one goalie from a list of two.
The forward candidates were Eric Hunter, Mike Leclerc, Blake Robson, Derek Boogaard and Chase Witala. The defencemen listed as possibilities were David Koci, Martin Marincin and Ian Walterson; and the two goalie choices were Ty Edmonds and Scott Myers.
Cougar fans chose Hunter, Boogaard and Witala as the three forwards for the top-25, as well as defenceman Marincin and goalie Myers.
Witala garnered the most votes among the forwards with 177, followed by Hunter (224), Boogaard (163), LeClerc (106) and Robson (105). The defencemen voting was as follows: Marincin (104), Walterson (94) and Koci (57). Myers (135) won a close race with Edmonds (124).
