A Long Time Coming

It’s been a long time coming for the Moncton Wildcats, but for the proud loyal fans it’s been worth the wait.

Gord Downie’s famous lyrics sum it up perfectly for the Wildcats.

“It’s the same mistake? It’s been a long time running, It’s been a long time coming, It’s well worth the wait”

15 years. That’s how long the championship drought has been for the Wildcats and they have made their share of mistakes over that time in search of getting back to the winners circle.

For years Moncton tried to be competitive every year and tried to do just about anything to make that happen. When they finally emptied the cupboards blew it up and started their epic rebuild and started to focus on drafting consistently rather than trying to hit homeruns is when they became more relevant in chasing championship aspirations. Everything was set when they went all in 2019-2020 building arguably what could have been their best team in franchise history before the season ended due to the pandemic.

Some tough lessons were learned, coaches were hired and fired over those 15 years.

The one constant over that time were the expectations and pressure to win. That’s always been the “Wildcat Way,” so what has been different this year?

Obviously, the hiring of Taylor and Gardiner MacDougall changed the landscape, but player personnel and drafting over the last three to four years coupled with quality trades set things in motion, but the MacDougall’s have put the organization on their backs and carried it to the promise land.

The Moncton Wildcats are champions once again, it’s been a long time coming, a long time running or chasing after the championship formula, but make no mistake, “the MacDougall Effect” was a massive part of the equation.