The WHL Arena Guide - South Okanagan Events Centre, Penticton Vees

First Visit: March 6, 2026
CHL Arena: 80
WHL Arena: 23

The CHL had 60 teams between 2007 and 2025. During that time, the longest period of stability in league history, the idea of "doing all 60" took root in my head, and in that time I managed to go from being done just the OHL plus a handful of Q rinks, to actually doing them all. Sixty is a nice round number, after all, and it's also the number of minutes in a hockey game, and it just felt right, when I went to Tri-City in October 2024, to say that I was the second person known to have done all sixty rinks in the CHL. Heck, that phrase even provided the name to the All 60 CHL Podcast which I occasionally co-host.

But change is an ever-constant in life, and in the aftermath of the ground-breaking NCAA eligibility ruling in 2024, the Penticton Vees, long the jewel in the BCHL's crown, saw which way the wind was blowing and approached the WHL about an expansion team. That team was granted, and the Vees began play as a WHL team in the fall of 2025. All 60 became all 61, and less than a year after "doing them all," I was back on the road to go see a new CHL team.

I remember years ago looking into all the provincial junior rinks in Canada, wondering what was out there. When I discovered the existence of the South Okanagan Events Centre, I was legitimately shocked to realize that there was a textbook CHL clone rink with a CHL capacity dedicated to a BCHL team, and I immediately wondered how it was possible that the SOEC wasn't already in the CHL. No one would expect Humboldt or Miramichi or Brockville to ever gain a CHL team, but Penticton is a big enough city with a big enough rink that this easily could have happened years ago. No one begrudged Vees ownership for preferring to remain the biggest fish in the smaller pond that is the BCHL, but truthfully, it makes so much sense for the Penticton Vees to play at the highest level of junior hockey in Canada. The day they joined the WHL, they immediately belonged.

We drove in on a beautiful early spring day in March of 2026, making the right turn at Okanagan Lake after the long descent from Pennask Summit instead of the left to go to Kelowna. At the foot of the lake we found picturesque Penticton, a beach town that even out of season felt like it would be a vacation paradise in summer time. The South Okanagan Events Centre sits in the west of town and occupies the same parking lot as the stunning old Penticton Memorial Arena, which opened in 1951 and was home of the old Senior hockey Vees of the 1950's as well as the junior Vees between 1961 and 2008. It won't be chronicled on this website unless the WHL Vees play a game there someday, but if you're into arenas, definitely check it out when you make the trip.

The SOEC is a tall, brown-brick building with ample parking on site, feeling like a suburban clone rink rather than a downtown one, despite the fact that Penticton doesn't really have conventional suburbs. The main entrance has a small team store at ground level, but much like other newer clones in Moncton, Vancouver and Moose Jaw, the top concourse is up a long flight of stairs from the entrance.

The closest CHL comparable to Penticton's building is probably Oshawa. Both share a similar capacity, a ring of new seats, a split concourse on one side that works its way around the restaurant, and a rarely used level of seats in one end that abuts the suite level. I'd say Oshawa is slightly nicer of a facility, but Penticton is slightly more intimate, and it would be difficult to pick a favourite of the two. On one side of the concourse, running from goal line to goal line, runs the BC Hockey Hall of Fame. Unlike other sports halls of fame in other CHL cities, Penticton's isn't just local, but is the Hall of Fame for the entire province, and it is easily the best historic display I've ever seen in a hockey arena, with jerseys, memorabilia, and artefacts from the entirety of BC hockey history. Yes, the Canucks are well-represented, but so are every WHL team that the province has ever hosted, as is the BCHL, as is senior hockey, and so on. Go early and spend twenty minutes to see it all.

Otherwise, the peripherals are all good in Penticton. Concessions seemed both plentiful and interesting in terms of food selection. Bathrooms didn't seem too lined up in intermissions. Views from the seats are all great. The team's banner game is easily the best I've ever seen in the CHL, with championship banners for the Vees and the city lining three sides of the rink in a U shape - there are easily 50 or more up there. On the fourth side of the U is the team's ring of honour - while the Vees don't retire numbers, they have the names of famous alumni up in the rafters for ever, which reminds anyone there of the cachet and pedigree of the franchise. While they may be a new CHL team, the Penticton Vees are one of Canada's iconic hockey teams, up there with the Peterborough Petes and the Regina Pats and the Chicoutimi Saguenéens. They are clearly an integral part of their community, and the CHL is much richer to have them in the fold.

My only criticism of the SOEC relates to the scoreboard and sound system. The AV setup would have been state-of-the-art in 2008, but the SOEC feels like it's had zero upgrades since it opened, and 2008 is (somehow) 18 years ago as of this writing. The Vees' AV team does a fantastic job working with what they have, and the pre-game show and promotions are NHL-grade in quality, which is what makes it such a shame that they're doing such great work on a tiny, 4:3 standard def screen in the scoreboard. I grew up in the days before video boards and I don't need every arena to have one, but the terrific AV team in Penticton deserves a better canvas on which to work.

As of this writing, all the fallout from the NCAA rule change in 2024 haven't come close to settling, but in a CHL context, poaching one of the crown jewels of provincial junior hockey was a great decision. The Vees are here to stay, they bring 65 years of history as a junior hockey team with them, and they're well worth a visit. With a few upgrades to bring the rink into 2026, the SOEC would be one of the CHL's best new buildings, but even without that, the team's history, atmosphere, and community spirit is something to behold. All 61 might not be a nice round number like all 60 was, but the CHL's 61st team is a spectacular addition to the league, and I couldn't be happier to have made the trip.