The Vancouver Canucks are set to hold their 2023 training camp at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre in September, with open practices and other events.
The Canucks last held their National Hockey League training camp at the arena in 2019
More information about activities during the Sept. 21-25 camp is expected in the next few months.
There was no announcement of an exhibition game in conjunction with the camp, as there was in 2019, when the Canucks played the Flames at a sold-out game at the centre.
The Canucks held their first camp on Blanshard in 1974 at the old Memorial Arena.
“The Vancouver Canucks have had a long history of holding training camp on Vancouver Island and throughout other parts of British Columbia,” said Jim Rutherford, the Canucks’ president of hockey operations, in a statement.
Rutherford said taking the team outside Vancouver to start the year “allows us to connect with our loyal fans from across the province.”
“We look forward to utilizing Victoria’s great facilities and beautiful surroundings to kick off the new season.”
The Canucks have previously held training camps at the Q Centre in Colwood and in Duncan, Parksville and Courtenay. On the mainland, they have been to Whistler, Abbotsford, Prince George, Vernon, Penticton, Kamloops and Powell River.
The club even held training camps in Alberta, at Calgary and Medicine Hat, in the first four seasons of the franchise’s existence in the NHL and before the Calgary Flames and Edmonton Oilers came into the league.
The Canucks went international once for training camp, in Stockholm in 2000, which was only fitting since the club has had a strong historical connection to star Swedish players on the roster.
Mike Strawn, vice-president of sports, media and entertainment with GSL Group, which operates the city-owned Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre, said Victoria fans are passionate about hockey. “We are thrilled to host the Canucks training camp at our facility and help bring this calibre of hockey to the community.”
The NHL team that has held the most training camps in Victoria is the Los Angeles Kings, which held 13 camps in the old Memorial Arena in the 1970s and 1980s. The Montreal Canadiens also held two training camps at the old Memorial Arena in the early 1960s.
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