Penticton, BC: The Penticton Vees are proud to announce due to their incredible fan support, they have become the first Canadian Junior Hockey League team to average 3,000 fans per home game.
After nearly setting the record by averaging 2,981 last year, the Vees broke through and averaged 3,055 over the course of 28 games at the South Okanagan Events Centre following the final two games of the regular season.
“As a group we fell agonizingly short of 3,000 last year and committed in the summer to work as hard as possible to make sure it didn’t happen again,” said Vees Director of Corporate Partnerships David Michaud. “Laura Carleton does a fantastic job working with our season members and connecting with local businesses for group sales. The SOEC is a fantastic facility to watch a game in and it’s a great night out for a family or a business. We can’t thank our fans enough for rallying behind the team this year and supporting us they way they do.”
The largest crowd of the season came January 20 against the Trail Smoke Eaters. It was the annual Pink in the Rink night for anti-bullying, and 4,342 fans were treated to a 3-2 overtime win thanks to Jonny Tychonick’s power-play goal.
There wasn’t a single game this season that had fewer than 2,585 fans inside the rink, and 13 of the 28 had crowds over 3,000.
The Vees thank their fans for the unparalleled support over the course of the 2017-18 season, and look forward to even bigger crowds during the Fred Page Cup playoffs which begin Friday as the Vees host the Coquitlam Express at 7:00 p.m.