Vancouver Canucks to play pre-season game in Kelowna

Canucks fans in Kelowna will have a chance to get an up-close look at the club next fall.

The team has announced its 2018-2019 pre-season schedule, and it includes a date at Kelowna’s Prospera Place.

The Canucks will play three pre-season home games at Rogers Arena followed by three on the road, before capping the warm-up with a final “home” game in the Okanagan on Sept. 29.

According to the club, the Kelowna game is the start of a new tradition where the team will one pre-season home game in a different B.C. community every year.

“Kelowna has a rich hockey history and we are excited to play in front of great fans in the Okanagan,” Trevor Linden, president of hockey operations, said in a media release.

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“The pre-season marks the start of what will be a great year for hockey fans in B.C., as in addition to the continued development and growth of our team, we have the privilege of welcoming the hockey world to both the 2019 World Juniors and 2019 NHL Entry Draft at Rogers Arena.”

Details on tickets for the pre-season games have yet to be released.

The Canucks have also announced that training camp will be held in Whistler.

WATCH: ‘I’m not going to throw any names out there’: Henrik Sedin on next Canucks captain

The Canucks were shut out of a top three pick in this year’s NHL Entry Draft, which takes place in Dallas, TX next Friday.

The team will choose seventh overall, having fallen in the draft lottery for the third year in a row.

READ MORE: With Brock Boeser injury, Canucks aren’t the only one losing ‘the flow’

The club is also facing tough odds in its bid for the Stanley Cup next year, being assessed just an 80-to-one chance of winning the championship by bookies.

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The 2018-19 season will be team’s first following the retirement of the Sedin twins, with newcomers Bo Horvat and Brock Boeser expected to shoulder much of the load.

Canucks general manager Jim Benning also told NHL.com earlier this week he expects Swedish elite prospect Elias Petterson — the club’s first-round draft pick in 2017 — to make the lineup for the coming season.