2 NHL teams coming to Boise for pre-season matchup

BOISE, Idaho — Boise will host two pre-season NHL games this fall, officials with the Idaho Steelheads announced Wednesday.

The Arizona Coyotes and Las Vegas Golden Knights will play October 8 at 6:00 p.m. at the Idaho Central Arena in their final pre-season game before the NHL season kicks off.

This game will give local hockey fans a chance to see some of the best hockey players and the announcement was a welcomed surprise.

"I love NHL hockey, I love watching it on tv and just to see the pros come here and play in front of us is awesome," said Dale Dixon who has been a season ticket holder for nine years. "We sell this place out on a regular basis if any town deserves an exhibition game, it is Boise, Idaho."

Idaho Steelheads management will make tickets available to season ticket holders first, then on August 10 the general public can purchase tickets for this NHL preseason game.

The Steelheads have a strong fan bas and Dale Dixon appreciates what management is doing for them after all the love and support they have given the Idaho Steelheads as this next year will mark 25 years in Boise.

"It goes both ways and to see the front office say hey we love your support, we love what you do for us you get first shot at the tickets it goes both ways," said Dixon.

This will be the second NHL preseason game in Boise with the first happening back in 1997 between the Los Angeles Kings and the San Jose Sharks, in 2012 the Dallas Stars and Minnesota were going to play but the game did not happen because of the NHL strike.

In 2017, the Dallas Stars held training camp in Boise as they are affiliated with the Idaho Steelheads.

Eric Trapp the president of Idaho Sports Properties who runs Idaho Central Arena told the media that the stars aligned for this game as a scheduling conflict made it so Arizona was looking to replace a home game with a neutral site and that worked with the Golden Knight's schedule.

“I think in the end people are going to see great quality hockey and it will be something they haven’t seen for 25 years and like we said the only other major league teams that have been here to play a game I think is the NBA," said Trapp. "We are going to try and get an NHL game as much as we can."

So fans of the Idaho Steelheads have something to look forward when Arizona and Las Vegas come to town before they cheer on the Steelheads in their 25th year.

"For a city like Boise to get two great NHL teams to come and play in front of us, that just proves that Boise is a hockey town and we love hockey," said Dixon.