Tickets to Tuesday’s tiebreaker game against Kelowna sold out

Mar 18, 2019 | 7:30 PM

KAMLOOPS — UPDATE – 4:30 p.m. Tuesday: The tiebreaker game is now officially soldout. It’s the first playoff sellout at the Sandman Centre since May 5, 1999 when 5,658 fans came out to watch the Blazers lose 4-3 in double OT to Calgary in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals. 

The 100 tickets released to the public at noon on Tuesday were snatched up in five minutes, according to the Sandman Centre Box Office. 

EARLIER: The Blazers host the seventh-ever tiebreaker game on Tuesday night against the Kelowna Rockets, and there’s been plenty of buzz around the city about the winner-take-all contest that will take place at Sandman Centre at 7 p.m.

There was a big line-up most of the morning at the Sandman Centre box office as fans waited to get their hands on tickets to the game. Even people who haven’t been to a game this season are coming out to support their team as the city jumps on the Blazers’ bandwagon.

“It’s good to see the place is going to sell out,” said one fan lining up. “First game of the year for me. It’s an important game, so I’m happy to be here and it looks like I’m going to be in luck.”

Another fan Steve Smith noted “it’s good to see everybody excited about it, and a line-up is kind of a rare thing lately it seems like for a Blazers game, so it’s good to see everyone coming, and hopefully it continues.”

The Blazers’ front office says there has been excitement building the last week as the team has been pushing towards the playoffs. But COO Don Moores says there hasn’t been this much buzz in a long time.

“When we won against Prince George on Saturday night, everyone’s phone in the front office blew up,” said Moores. “People looking for tickets, people really excited, and can’t wait for the big game. We’re very close to being sold out, so if you’re thinking about getting tickets, you’ll want to get on that.”

Moores says the last time there was this much excitement was when the Blazers hosted the Rockets at Memorial Arena in a playoff game in 2016.

As of 7 p.m. Monday night, Ticketmaster indicated 13 single-seat tickets. There’s also standing room. The Blazers, however, say 100 tickets have to be saved for Kelowna Rockets fans until noon on Tuesday. There’s no indication how many of those tickets have already been snatched up by the Okanagan fans.