Johnny2Bad says:
Sat, 27th Dec 2008  12:30 am 

The Canucks story is believable, although they might not be the “true” origins, it’s as good as any. I will say it’s definitely a locker-room hockey term from the 80’s, because that’s where it came to me.

It was common slang around Western Canada by the end of that decade if you were a twenty-something male at the time (as I was) although we would use the term “Coog” more often than the full “Cougar”.

If you played mens league hockey (guys in their 20’s + 30’s, mostly) you were a “Rink Rat” … means you spend all day and night at the rink.

In Eastern Canada they call hockey groupies “Puck Bunnies”. I don’t hear that one much out West.

“East” and “West” in Canada refers to a line drawn at the Manitoba/Ontario border; basically at Minnesota/Wisconsin if you live in the US, or if you project it south, a line drawn down to Texas/Louisiana.