The 2016 IIHF Women's World Championship come to Kamloops from March 28 to April 4. Before the tournament several other communities in the Thompson-Okanagan will host pre-competition camps.
Image Credit: Hockey Canada via Facebook
March 18, 2016 - 1:14 PM
THOMPSON-OKANAGAN - Hockey fans in the Thompson-Okanagan will have a chance to catch some international hockey action ahead of the 2016 IIHF Women’s Worlds Championships in Kamloops later this month.
Team Canada will be in Penticton for a pre-competition camp from March 19 to March 25, while national teams from other countries will be holding pre-competition camps in Kelowna, Clearwater and Salmon Arm.
As part of the camp in Penticton, the Canadian women's national team will be taking on the Okanagan Hockey Academy Selects in exhibition games. The first game will be played on March 21 at the Okanagan Hockey Academy Training Centre at 5:30 p.m. The second game will be played at the South Okanagan Events Centre March 23 at 7:30 p.m. Both games are free and open to the public.
The national women's team coach Laura Schuler says the camp in Penticton will provide the team with a solid measuring stick as to where it sits heading into competition.
While Team Canada is in Penticton getting ready for the tournament, Salmon Arm will host Finnish team, the Russians will be in Clearwater and Kelowna will host the Swedish team. The teams will be holding practises and exhibition games in those communities as well.
Two exhibition games will take place in Kamloops on Saturday, March 26 before the tournment gets underway. Canada faces Sweden at the Sandman Centre, while Switzerland plays Russia at the McArthur Island Sport and Event Centre. Tickets are $20 for the Canada-Sweden game and can be purchased online. The McArthur Island game tickets will be available on game day for $5.
The Women's World Championships take place from March 28 to April 4 in Kamloops and TSN will broadcast 11 of the games. A complete schedule to the tournament and information on ticket purchase can be found on the Hockey Canada website.
To contact the reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad at sarstad@infonews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.
— This story was updated at 8:42 a.m., Saturday, March 19, 2016 with corrrected information from Spectra Venue Management regarding the exhibition game schedule in Penticton.
News from © iNFOnews, 2016