Perhaps unusual for a hockey team, the success story of the Lloydminster Bobcats has little to do with what happened on the ice.
In February of last year, news broke from then-owners Wayne Russell and Rusway Construction that the Junior A hockey team would be playing out the rest of the season wearing a ‘for sale’ sign. The decision to sell the team was preceded by rumours in the 2009-2010 season – adamantly denied at the time – that the team would be put on the market.
But more than two years after whispers of a sale began due to dwindling fan and corporate support, the Bobcats play on at the Civic Centre, headed into the AJHL playoff season ranked tenth in the country as of Feb. 20.
From the early rumours that eventually came true to certainty that the team was leaving for Whitecourt, Alta., and back again to staying in the community, the last few years have been a wild ride.