Last year, when Ron McLean was in town for Hockey Day in Canada, I vividly recall him commenting on the role the community plays in the success of the Owen Sound Attack “This is a special place to play,” said MacLean during an interview with the Attack’s Ethan Burroughs. “No franchise in the CHL gets a greater percentage of its population that attends the game. It’s over 11 percent of the folks who live here that come to the games and you can feel it.”
Sitting in a sea of red seats at the Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre just before practice with Dave Cruickshank and Pete Miller, I realize that how I feel about this team is how an entire percentage of the community feels about this team. If you look around at those red seats and take a minute to pick out all the gold plaques with names engraved, you’ll realize how badly the people of this city wanted their OHL team to stay here. So much so they were willing to donate financially to keep the franchise in town. Every gold embossed seat is a vote for this team to stay, to give us a place to be on a Saturday night and a roster to support all season long.
It’s folks like Dave and Pete and the Attack Pak membership who support this team, day in and day out year after year, amidst a sea of changing faces. Dave and Pete are two of the key members of the Attack Pak—the Owen Sound Attack’s fan club – as unfamiliar as that term might sound to today’s younger fans. For some, the term fan club hearkens back to the days of Shaun Cassidy posters and signed 8 by 10’s you could mail away for. And while the times have changed, the mission behind the Attack Pak has not. “We are a bridge between the fans and the players,” explains Cruickshank. “When the Attack Pak started, there really was no other way to make those connections.”
At its peak, the Attack Pak had close to 500 members. Today they still boast an impressive membership of nearly 200 Attack fans. “Covid really hurt us,” explains Cruickshank. “And we are still coming out of that.” Cruickshank has been the president of the Attack Pak since 2018 taking over from his predecessor Helen Lewis who ran the fan club for 25 years. The club has existed in one form or another since an OHL team came to Owen Sound in 1989. It was later rebranded to the Attack Pak when the team’s ownership changed. “This club wouldn’t exist without the work of Helen and the team that came before us,” says Cruickshank.
The Attack Pak was born in a key time for the hockey club in Owen Sound—when the future of the franchise was in trouble. “There was no social media at that time and people had no idea where to turn to find out what was going to happen next with the team. All of a sudden these message boards took off, places like Electric Ice, went from 20 users to 3000 or 4000 users almost overnight. When the franchise was confirmed to be staying in Owen Sound, the Attack Pak was born and our membership grew quickly. It was a very important part of the new Attack team here. Now with social media, a lot of people get their information that way instead and they have less face to face contact with other fans. But at the time, that connection was crucial.”
Miller and Cruickshank believe the appetite for real connection with the players still exists. “The Attack Pak is the connection between the inner workings of the team and the fans,” explains Miller. Miller and Cruickshank, now retired, attend practices most days and say Attack GM Dale DeGray isn’t afraid to wander up and chat with them about how things are going with the team. “They’re not hiding in a box someplace,” explains Cruickshank, “I don’t think there’s another club in the league that has that relationship with the owners, GM, coaches and players.” How important are those ties? So much so that when Miller and Cruickshank were approached by the Guelph Storm Trackers and their incoming president, their first advice was to build a relationship with management as soon as possible.
So what does the Attack Pak do in their role to connect fans with the players? This year they are running two bus trips to away games, complete with overnight hotel stays and events planned during the days. They are organizing an upcoming team dinner at East Side Mario’s on January 8th where fans can come and meet the team. They are one of the first points of contact between new players and the community when they host a team lunch on the final day of training camp. They host a watch party for the OHL priority selection, complete with a meet and greet with DeGray where he’s happy to give fans insight into the rationale behind his choices. On game nights, you’ll find them in the Attack Pak booth where they hold nightly draws, some for members, and some for the general public. All the money raised goes back to the team. It helps support activities for the team, subsidizes bus trips, helps with weekly awards and an annual award that recognize the players, and it also supports local charities that the team backs.
You’ll also find some sweet player buttons for sale at the booth, a throwback to a souvenir offering that was put on the back burner for a few years. “It’s a neat keepsake, because these kids aren’t here forever,” says Miller. “They are here for so long and then they’re gone. And the big sellers are not always the star guys. It could just be someone a fan has a connection to.” This year it’s tough to find a Jackson Stewart button or a Jake Crawford button—although rumour has it Jake’s mom cleaned out the stock early in the season.
The bus trips are a highlight say Cruickshank and Miller. “Every trip, after one of the games, the entire team, players and coaches, come on board the bus to say hi to the trippers,” explains Cruickshank. “Our fans just love it. For a lot of them, they’ve only seen the players in full gear on the ice. So to have them walking down the aisle, chatting with everyone, sometimes people have to ask who they are specifically. You could have been watching a player on the ice for four years, but have never really seen their face, looked them in the eye or had a conversation. Win or lose, they come on the bus and they show us that they appreciate us making the trip and supporting them. All of a sudden, the fans get that connection. That’s when people realize that they are human, that they are kids. What we’re about is supporting this team and supporting these kids while they are here.”
Do they get revved up when things aren’t clicking on the ice? “If we lose Friday night, you can grumble about it a bit, but when you wake up Saturday morning it’s over,” says Cruickshank. “Then you’re back to supporting the team. Those kids should never think that we don’t support them.”
And the players notice that unwavering support, as do the parents. Players who’ve gone on to the NHL still stay in touch with the Attack Pak, often donating prizes to help with the weekly draws like Montreal Canadiens captain Nick Suzuki has.
“The most important part of the fan club is to connect the players with the general public,” emphasizes Miller. “These kids have real personalities and we like to help get them out there.”
“The biggest part is that we absolutely love doing it,” says Cruickshank as the team begins to make their way onto the ice for afternoon practice. He and Miller head over to their seats behind the Attack bench and a small group of regulars joins them. Win or lose, highs and lows, superstars and rookies that you just might see at the Boot and Blade for breakfast on a Sunday morning, the Attack Pak has been here for the players for over two decades. And if Miller and Cruickshank along with fellow executive members Wendy Reed and Mackenzie Miller have their say, they’ll be going strong for even longer.
