Kelowna set to host Memorial Cup for first time in more than two decades Ready for cup puck drop The Kelowna Rockets will welcome three of junior hockey’s best clubs to the Okanagan this week as the city hosts the 2026 Memorial Cup presented by Kubota, running May 21-31 at Prospera Place. It marks the first time Kelowna has hosted the Canadian Hockey League’s marquee event since 2004, when the Rockets captured the championship on home ice — the franchise’s only Memorial Cup title to
date. The Rockets enter the tournament as hosts after posting a 38-21-6-3 regular-season record and sweeping Kamloops in the opening round of the WHL playoffs before falling to eventual WHL champion Everett in five games. Joining Kelowna in the four-team round-robin are the Everett Silvertips, the WHL champions making their first-ever Memorial Cup appearance, the Kitchener Rangers, the OHL champions returning to the tournament for the first time since 2008, and the Chicoutimi Saguenéens, the QMJHL champions making their first Memorial Cup appearance in nearly
30 years. Tournament play gets underway Friday when Kelowna faces Kitchener at 6 p.m. PT. All games air on TSN and RDS in Canada, with U.S. viewers able to catch the action on NHL Network. The championship final goes May 31.
Kelowna Rockets, Memorial Cup 2026, Prospera Place, Okanagan, Everett Silvertips, Kitchener Rangers, Chicoutimi Saguenéens, TSN, RDS, NHL Network, Canadian Hockey League
Wait it’s only been 22 years? Feels like it was just here.
Kelowna really gets everything huh. Memorial Cup May 21-31… so does that mean the city shuts down or is it just games at Prospera Place? I’m confused but excited.
Everett’s in it again? I thought they won last year or something. Also the article says TSN and RDS, but then “U.S. viewers NHL Network” like it’s all the same channel… so do Americans get TSN too or what?
This is kinda wild because I remember 2004 but I didn’t know Kelowna even hosted since then. Like if the Rockets sweep Kamloops then surely they win the whole thing right? Probably jinxing myself but I’m rooting for them, not the other teams coming in.