Canucks pre-season game in Kelowna sells out, creates buzz

KELOWNA (NEWS 1130) – The Vancouver Canucks are the hot ticket in Kelowna this weekend, with seats for Saturday night’s pre-season finale against the Arizona Coyotes completely sold out.

At one point, the cheapest seat you could find was $167 on the secondary market — more than $100 over the original price.

Kelowna Mayor Colin Basran says there’s a whole lot of buzz around game.

“Everybody’s really excited, the fact that we’re going to see an NHL game here in our community,” he tells NEWS 1130. “The fact that it’s getting to the end of the preseason as well, which means the teams are trimming the rosters and we’re getting close to the teams we’ll actually see on opening night. So we’re going to see some really good players here in our community so I think people are pretty stoked about it.”

He says the city itself wasn’t behind the push to bring the game to Kelowna, but Basran says the team is always welcome to play there.

Basran would like to see more NHL games played at Prospera Place — perhaps even a preseason game every year.

“You know there was a time too, back in the day, when the BC Lions used to hold their training camp there. So we’re always open to look at opportunities where we could have some of these great professional teams we have in our province.”

“Spreading the love, if you will. Having games and opportunities for local fans here in the Okanagan to be able to see them play live.”

He believes Kelowna is “absolutely a hockey city.”

“We have one of the best junior hockey franchises in the country here. We’ve hosted events like Parts of the World Junior Hockey Championships in partnership with Vancouver when it was held in Vancouver previously. We’ve had a number of high-caliber events here.”

Kelowna is also in the process of bidding for the 2020 Memorial Cup, he adds, and also lists a number of past and present NHL players who call Kelowna home.

When it comes to whether he’s surprised that people are willing to pay almost twice as much for tickets to Saturday’s game, Basran admits he is slightly.

“But of course ticket re-sellers and the whole ticket situation has been one that’s been a bit of a hot topic of discussion among various levels of government and how we try to control it and make sure that people have proper access to tickets when they become available,” he adds. “That’s a tough situation to rectify, but obviously it speaks to the want of people to come to our community to see the game.”

The Canucks take on the Arizona Coyotes at 7:00 p.m. You can catch the game on Sportsnet as well as Sportsnet 650.

-With files from Tim James

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