Photo: Gerry Dee

B.C. hockey royalty, and a little humour, will be coming to Penticton later this week during the B.C. Hockey Hall of Fame’s annual induction dinner and auction. 

Held at the South Okanagan Events Centre on Friday, 5 p.m to 10 p.m., the night will be hosted by Canadian actor and stand-up comedian Gerry Dee.

“I’m such a huge fan of hockey, plus the Okanagan Valley is not a bad place to spend a couple days,” Dee told Castanet News Monday.

“It’s an honour that they asked me to do this and welcome these new members to the Hall of Fame.”

The event will honour inductees Daniel and Henrik Sedin, Barret Jackman, Shane Heyer, Ron Delorme, Karen Wallace and the 1997-98 South Surrey Eagles. The Sedins, however, will not be in attendance.

Dee has deep ties to the game of hockey, playing throughout college and coaching tier-two junior hockey in Ontario until his mid-twenties when he pursued standup comedy.

Dee placed third on the fifth season of Last Comic Standing, before going on to write and star in the CBC’s Mr. D.

“I had to leave it to pursue what I did, I probably made the right decision, but I certainly miss the connection to hockey and being involved in coaching,” he said.

Dee says it's been about 20 years since he last visited the Okanagan, and never in the summer, so he’s looking forward to the dinner.

“It's a great honour to be asked to do this. But when it's in a beautiful place like that it makes it even easier,” he said.

The induction dinner, presented by Castanet and Sportsnet, is open to the public with a $90 ticket. That includes a cocktail hour where you can mingle with big names of the hockey world, a buffet dinner, a series of speeches and tributes, the chance to bid on live and silent auctions and the 50/50.

The B.C. Hockey Hall of Fame is a charitable organization. Tickets can be purchased here.