No Memorial Cup for Kelowna.
At least, not until Prospera Place is fixed up to meet modern standards.
On Wednesday night, with the Kelowna Rockets hosting the Swift Current Broncos, the Western Hockey League’s commissioner didn’t mince words when asked when the Okanagan would again host junior hockey’s national championship tournament.
Ron Robison said he’d dearly love to see the CHL’s top teams in Kelowna again, like when they gathered in 2004 and were supposed to in 2020, but that money needs to be desperately invested into the Rockets’ home rink.
“The community is outstanding, the organization has been great,” Robison told Global News. “But there are challenges with the building, there’s no question.”
The major issue with Prospera Place is its lack of dressing rooms for visiting teams. In fact, the rooms are so small that the visiting WHL team has to use two side-by-side rooms.
To host the Memorial Cup, dressing rooms for two more teams would be needed — but there aren’t any available.
For the 2004 Memorial Cup, portables were built in the parking lot and used by the OHL and QMJHL champions.
Kelowna was to host the 2020 tournament, but that was derailed by COVID, and portables were again to be used. Fast forward three years, and the thought of portables in a parking lot doesn’t fly anymore.
“The standards are just not there. We need them to be improved,” said Robison. “There has been some improvement made to the facility, but, right now, the facility is not in condition to host the Memorial Cup.”
Robison added the league needs “those improvements to be made in order to be eligible for the 2026 Memorial Cup.”
The Kelowna Rockets don’t own the rink; they just lease it — part of a 30-year-agreement in a public-private partnership involving the City of Kelowna and a company called GSL Group, which also runs Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre in Victoria and owns the WHL’s Victoria Royals.
“The facility manager is responsible for the improvements to the facility,” said Robison. “It’s important that the facility manager makes the necessary improvements for the facility to meet our standards required for the Memorial Cup.”
Global News has reached out to GSL Group regarding Robison’s comments.
Global News reached out to the City of Kelowna regarding the public-private partnership and how long before GSL Group’s contract with the city expires.
According to the city, GSL Group owns the parking lot that runs in front of the rink, along Water Street — where three towers are being proposed.
However, the city owns the land the rink sits on, along with the parking lot that runs along Cawston Avenue.
The city says in 2029, it can exercise an option to have the building turned over for a nominal amount.