The Kelowna Rockets will open the 2023-24 season by playing seven of their first nine games at home, including their opening two games.
Kelowna’s first game of the upcoming WHL campaign will be Saturday, Sept. 23, against the Portland Winterhawks. Their second game of the season will be Saturday, Sept. 30, against the Wenatchee Wild.
Both home games at Prospera Place will start at 7:05 p.m.
Following those two games, the Rockets will travel to Prince George for a pair of games against the Cougars, Oct. 3-4.
After that is a five-game homestand, Oct. 7 to 18, with games against Spokane, Victoria, Prince George, Medicine Hat and Swift Current.
Eventually, the regular season will end on Saturday, March 22-23, with a home game against the Vancouver Giants.
Kelowna will play Wenatchee — the Western Conference’s newest team — four times this season. The Rockets will visit the Wild on Saturday, Oct. 28 and Saturday, Jan. 6.
In turn, the Wild will also visit the Okanagan on Wed., Nov. 29.
The Wild came into existence with the Winnipeg Ice being recently purchased and relocated to Washington state.
This past season, Winnipeg had the league’s best record (57-10-1-0, 115 points) and advanced to the league championship series, but lost in five games to Seattle.
The Wild’s roster features all of this past season’s roster in Winnipeg, including projected 2023 NHL first-round pick Zach Benson, 2022 Arizona Coyotes first-round pick Conor Geekie and Buffalo Sabres prospect Matthew Savoie.
Kelowna’s preseason schedule features four games. The Rockets will play in Kamloops on Sept. 8, then host the Blazers on Sept. 9. The following weekend, they will host Vancouver on Sept. 15, then Victoria on Sept. 16.