Let me make a case for watching hockey in person in Edmonton. The atmosphere is unbeatable, you can see the best players in the world, parking is a cinch, beer is reasonably priced and team swag enriches player development, rather than the folks in the C-suites. Oh, and rinkside tickets are affordable.
Of course I am not talking about the NHL. I’m still dizzy from the last time I watched an Oilers game in person, wayyyyy up where the air is thin in the cheap seats, which frankly weren’t cheap. I watched the game on the jumbotron rather than on the rink. I paid the same for my beer, about $20, as the posh folks in the lower bowl paid for theirs.
If you don’t know this, the Edmonton Oil Kings are a major junior team that plays in the Western Hockey League; players are aged 16 to 19. Most WHL players hail from across Western Canada and the U.S. It’s your chance to see elite-talent athletes piloted by teenage brains: expect chaos and skill in equal measure, and a probability of high scores. It’s your chance to watch the big stars of tomorrow.
“If you haven’t been to an Oil Kings game, what are you waiting for?” says director of operations Kevin Radomski. “Tickets are a $20 start price, and there are kids’ ticket-and-food combos for under $10. On Wednesdays, we sell $2 hot dogs all game long.” It’s a realistic family outing, rather than a once-in-a-decade experience.
“Bears and Pandas hockey is the best-kept secret in town,” says Connor Hood, communications co-ordinator for athletics at the U of A.
Hood says this season looks different because the aging home-ice facility on campus, Clare Drake Arena, is closed for renovation, so the Bears and Pandas are playing at Silent Ice Centre in Nisku. “As part of a new marketing initiative for this season, we’re targeting casual hockey fans and youth teams who don’t have a tie to the U of A,” Hood says. Adult single ticket prices are $21 and a family of four can take in a game for $50.
“In-person games are second-to-none,” Hood says. “You get a great view of the ice, and the speed and skill of the players is amazing.” Like U of A, MacEwan also has teams in Canada West, while NAIT, Concordia University and Augustana Campus play in the Alberta Colleges Athletic Conference league.
Varsity sports provide the chance to see “the best women’s hockey in Edmonton,” Hood adds. I would append that sentence with “for now.”
Last April, I went to Rogers Place to watch the Vancouver Goldeneyes take on the Boston Fleet, two teams in the Professional Women’s Hockey League. Tickets were a little less than $50 per. (I still paid NHL rates for beer.) It was part of the league’s Takeover Tour, where teams play some games in cities without pro hockey teams.
I am strictly a sports fan, but one of my companions that night was a former athlete — an elite volleyball player. “You know, I always wanted to play hockey,” she told me. She was emotional at the sight of almost 11,000 fans cheering for professional women’s hockey.
The league is embarking on its fourth season in 2026-27, and I’ll be in the stands again when the Takeover Tour visits Edmonton. There are 12 Canadian and American cities represented in the PWHL. Edmonton isn’t one. For now.
Silent Ice Centre
Nisku Business Park | 1515 35 Avenue, Nisku | tickets.silenticecenter.com
