Sandman Centre in Kamloops ready for the Memorial Cup (Photo credit: CFJC Today)

By Adam Donnelly/CFJC Today

KAMLOOPS

Crews put final touches on Sandman Centre for Memorial Cup

May 25, 2023 | 11:00 AM

The wait is almost over for junior hockey fans in Kamloops.

On Friday night, the Sandman Centre will be packed to the rafters with fans, as the Memorial Cup gets underway.

The opening game will see the host Kamloops Blazers against the Quebec Remparts, coached by Patrick Roy, at 6 p.m. on TSN.

“You look at this building and the city has stepped up and done so much work to get us to be ready for this event,” Blazers’ President Norm Daley tells CFJC Today. “I just can’t thank everybody enough to be able to get to this point.”

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It’s been a couple of weeks since the Blazers’ faithful have packed the seats of the old barn. When they arrive on Friday night for the first game between the host team and the QMJHL Champion Quebec Remparts, it’ll be as if they’re stepping into a whole new barn — right from the ice on up.

“There’s a whole process to [replacing the ice]. We had to shut the plant down, then we removed the ice the following day and started to make new ice last Friday,” Joe Vetere, Arenas and Pools Supervisor for the City of Kamloops, explains. “Here we are not even a week later, and it’s ready to be played on.”

New banners and branding have been hung throughout Sandman Centre and infrastructure is in place for TSN, which will broadcast the event across Canada. The biggest change is at the east end of the arena, where suites for each team, as well as CHL officials, have been built atop a scaffolding platform.

“It was really labour intensive,” Vetere says. “For people who were at the Blazer games, when they were here originally, they saw a tiny section that was built out and they thought, ‘Geez, is this what’s being talked about?’ But of course, if you look at it now, it goes from one side to the other.”

Fans may have noticed the new screens that line the concourse on each side, as well as the new ads on the boards. However, one improvement fans won’t see will make a huge difference to the modern in-game experience.

“Another big thing that was added was a Wi-Fi upgrade. It’s going to make the experience better for people that are coming into the arena,” Vetere explains. “They’ll be able to log on and have Wi-Fi throughout the building.”

With one day until the puck drops on the tournament, crews are putting on the final touches throughout the building. Both Vetere and Daley are proud of the hard work that’s been poured into the venue and can’t wait until the fans start filing in.

“It’s incredibly exciting,” Vetere says. “All the city staff that’s been involved, everybody’s worked really hard to get it to the point where it’s ready to go for Friday night. It’s just such a huge positive for the city itself.”

“There’s just been a lot of work that’s been undertaken over the last year to get to this point,” the Blazers’ Daley says. “Just really amazing, the team of volunteers we’ve got together. The fan support has been fantastic in snapping up the tickets. Obviously, the sponsorship base here in the community has been great.”