Prince Harry, the Duke of Sussex, participated in the ceremonial puck drop at the Vancouver Canucks game on Monday night in preparation for the 2025 Invictus Games.
The Vancouver Canucks were hosting the San Jose Sharks.
As the founder and patron of the Invictus Games Foundation, which organizes the international multi-sport event for wounded, injured and sick servicemen and women, Harry attended the game accompanied by his wife Meghan Markle, local Indigenous leaders, B.C. Premier David Eby, and Tourism, Arts, Culture, and Sports Minister Lana Popham.
Rogers Arena has been chosen as the venue for the closing ceremony of the 2025 Invictus Games, which will take place in Vancouver and Whistler, B.C. from Feb. 8 to Feb. 16, 2025.
Sharks captain Tomas Hertl commented on the experience after the game, saying, “I actually had to tell him (to drop the puck) because he keeps holding and smiling. I’d say ‘it’s time to drop it’ but it’s a cool moment. For sure I will remember that one.”
Canucks head coach Rick Tocchet also had a brief interaction with the royal, saying, “I gave him a fist bump, I don’t know if you’re allowed to do that. I did it, he did it. He kind of looked at me but he did it.”
Prince Harry is the second royal to attend a Canucks game, following in the footsteps of his late grandmother Queen Elizabeth II, who attended a pre-season match between Vancouver and San Jose in 2002.
The Queen dropped the puck in a ceremonial opening faceoff before retiring to a special box to watch the first period along with her husband Prince Philip, NHL legend Wayne Gretzky, then-B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell, and NHL commissioner Gary Bettman.
