VANCOUVER -- A B.C. Hockey League team is offering free tickets to a future game for its local fans who show proof of their COVID-19 vaccine.

The Coquitlam Express, one of B.C.'s Junior A teams, announced the offer Thursday. It's only available to Tri-City residents and only after health restrictions lift in the province.

"The importance of getting vaccinated is so that we can get back to normalcy and for us that means reopening our arena to get fans back in the building," said Tali Campbell, the team's vice-president and general manager, in a news release.

"As an organization we have talked about various ways we can keep the encouragement of getting vaccinated and we thought, let’s offer a free ticket voucher to an upcoming game for those who get vaccinated."

Fans from the area can email picture proof of their vaccination card to tali@coquitlamexpress.ca or bring it to the team's office when it reopens in August. They'll then receive one free ticket voucher to be used after the restrictions lift.