Panthers to play preseason game in Nova Scotia vs. Senators

The Panthers first preseason game has been announced, and it comes with a unusual venue.

The Florida Panthers and Ottawa Senators will participate in a Kraft Hockeyville preseason game in Sydney, Nova Scotia, on Oct. 1, the NHL announced Wednesday.

Kraft has partnered with the NHL and NHL Players’ Association since 2006 to annually donate to a local Canadian rink and host an NHL preseason game. Included with the city’s awarded preseason game is a $250,000 stadium upgrades donation and a separate $10,000 donation of youth hockey equipment.

While the game will be played at Centre 200, the technical winner is the Canada Games Complex. Hockey stopped being played there, so it cannot host the preseason game, but a growing demand — particularly for women’s hockey — created a need for arena upgrades. The donation is expected to be used to purchase a compressor that will allow hockey again.

Game time and broadcast information will be announced later, as will the rest of the Panthers’ preseason schedule.

This will be the Panthers second time as participants, the other coming in 2019 at Tom Donovan Arena in Renous, New Brunswick.

Centre 200 is home to the Cape Breton Eagles, a Canadian junior hockey team. Notable alumni include Marc-André Fleury and Pierre-Luc Dubois.