The Steinbach Pistons have their first home game of the season tomorrow night. 

Jamie Roy, Sales & Marketing Manager of the Steinbach Pistons, says the team is pumped. 

“We are ready to see a full house on Thursday night, our opening night against the Portage Terriers, we couldn’t be more pumped.” 

Roy says the off-season has been busy with getting the HyLife Centre in La Broquerie ready for the team.

He notes they weren’t able to bring the big screen with them to their new home rink.

“It was a nice luxury to have, and we’re so used to it," he says. "We play in Steinbach, you look over to the screen, ‘oh I want to see that replay.’ And then you go to any of the other buildings we play in, right after something cool happens you look to the back wall, but now we’re going to be doing the same thing here because we weren’t able to bring it along.” 

The big screen is in storage for now, but it will come back out to get used in the new Event Centre building. 

The Pistons have been at the La Broquerie arena for a couple of weeks now, and Roy says they have already broken a piece of glass during practice. 

“So that was a nice little welcome to La Broquerie for the arena staff there. It's been a learning curve for all of us, because they are not used to having someone in there all of the time, so it’s been really great to work with them as we get set up and get comfortable in our space."

He says it's a really great space.

"There’s a lot of space for us to use in there, and we’re excited to have a full house of people come through there."

Roy shares that the bleachers in La Broquerie hold 379 people compared to 865 in Steinbach. Although, La Broquerie also has space for roughly 100 people in standing, plus the T&T lounge which looks down at the rink.

"So that’s going to be a space where people can go watch the game, you can watch through the windows that are looking down over the rink. We will also have the game projected over the wall in the back, and then there is just a casual lounge environment up there where people can watch the game."

RONA La Broquerie Lumber is hosting a season kick-off BBQ in the Caisse Centre before the game on Thursday.

If you’re not familiar with the site, the Caisse Centre is a brown building that’s just behind the arena. 

"So bring your lawn chairs. It’s going to be a true tailgate party."

You can buy a hot dog and a drink for $2 and they will also have a bar set up.

"The community of La Broquerie wasn’t able to host their fall supper this year, so we’ve kind of agreed with RONA that the $2 from the meal and $2 from every beer at the BBQ is going to go toward the La Broquerie Parish to help fund the loss of not having the fall supper," he says. "We’re going to be there for the season, so we want to start things off right, and we want to make sure that the La Broquerie fans support us and enjoy having us in the community."

The tailgate party starts at 5:30pm, the doors to the rink open at 6pm, and the game will be at 7pm with player intros and a light show.

Roy notes that due to the limited seating in La Broquerie, they are trying something new.

“We don’t have a lot of seats, so our season ticket holders that can’t make it to the game, we are encouraging them to let us know by noon the day of the game, and we’ll give you a credit on your account for helping us out so that we can resell that ticket so that we can actually truly fill the building every game.” 

He notes that if you don't get tickets, check their website again in the early afternoon the day of the game because there may be some seats that become available as their season ticket holders inform them that they can't make it.

You can get tickets to the Pistons game at steinbachpistons.ca.

 

With files from Corny Rempel

 

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