NHL Arenas- Past and Present
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Here is a good slideshow of Boston Garden 20 years ago
http://ballparks.phanfare.com/2413998#imageID=38706463
http://ballparks.phanfare.com/2413998#imageID=38706463
Killion
Registered User
- Feb 19, 2010
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Wow. Enough to make you almost weep. Just beautiful as were so many of them now gone. Just a shame they couldnt have been retro-fitted & upgraded. Todays cookie cutters, you almost cant tell the difference as to where you are but for the regalia hanging from the rafters & the center ice logo's. Oh well, consider ourselves fortunate to have been born when we were & experienced the Grand Old Arena's in all their glory & majesty.
Killion
Registered User
- Feb 19, 2010
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Woo! That is one Hell of a shot....
Maple Leaf Gardens
And just for fun; Ultra Futuristic.... Jaca, Spain
I have been to hundreds of games at MSG and a handful at the NVMC but as a kid my father took me many nights to see the Long Island Ducks at the Commack Arena which was a great place to see a game. The movie Slapshot was supposedly based on the Ducks. Great Memories!
the4thlinegrinder
Registered User
Some great stories in here. I wish I could've gone to the old buildings, from the descriptions I've read it almost sounds like the arenas WERE hockey, just in another form. I've been to a few current arenas (mostly out west).
Rogers Arena a number times, including during the Olympics- its a nice rink, if not a bit average by todays standards. The location is awesome (downtown and the skytrain takes you right up to the door). Every time I'm there (was at a game last week in fact) I think of Crosby's famous OT winner. Would be nice to have a statue of him out there one day.
Rexall Place too many times to count- really an awful arena in NHL context, but full of nostalgia for me. Saw my first game in 99 at the age of 4 and a half and distinctly remember a Mighty Ducks player waiving back to me during warmups. Also attended the well known Stefan-gaffe game in 07. In fact I even saw a game in the press box there! Great memories from a rink that housed maybe the greatest NHL team ever.
HP Pavilion once- went to a playoff game a couple years ago; the atmosphere was unlike anything I've ever experienced. Lived on air force bases as a kid and the noise reminded me of an F-18 soaring off. Sharks won the series in OT, saw the Rolling Stones there the next night.
Staples Center once- same road trip, went to a Kings playoff game. The LA Live district is top notch-- so many entertainment options before and after the game. The whole set up is very LA (and I mean that as a compliment). Awesome arena as well, it feels very wide open and grand. Given the large number of high profile events that go on there (Grammys, Lakers winning a few titles, Kings winning a couple, major concerts, MJ's service, etc), dare I say MSG West? Maybe eventually...
Honda Center once- great road trip, hey? Game 7 Ducks-Red Wings. Great game, but I wasn't digging the atmosphere. Seemed... subdued. Odd. The building isn't bad but you can tell its from the 90's. Very basic and cookie cutter.
Jobing.Com Arena twice- cool barn, I love the district around it. A lot of entertainment options and some great restaurants too. The main issue (probably doesn't need repeating) is the location; way out in the suburbs. Imagine the Canucks playing out in Abbotsford, yikes. Wasn't a problem for me as the trip was planned around the games but that is awful for locals I'd imagine.
BB&T Center twice- pretty nice arena, suffers from the same issue as the Yotes though in the location. Plus there isn't really anything immediately around the rink (there is a gigantic mall about a 10 minute walk away, but the way the arena is just "there" without anything close by kind of surprised me). Matt Hendricks smashed his stick on the glass in front of my face during warmup and then tied the game up late, so that was cool.
Amalie Arena once- wow, what a great arena. The plaza before you get in is really cool, there was a live band and other fun things. Nothing really exciting about the game itself, but the overall experience was great.
I also hope to get to MTS Centre, the Sattledome and Xcel Energy Center next year, but we'll see.
Some things I noticed writing that was I subconsciously focused on things not directly related to hockey (other entertainment options around the arena for one) whereas others in this thread I find were more into the feel of the building (the sound of Chicago Stadium, the seating at the Aud, etc). I wonder how much of a generational gap there is to appreciating hockey arenas differently. I've only been to modern NHL rinks so its what I'm used to and it limits me from having a different perspective on what a hockey arena "should" be like.
Rogers Arena a number times, including during the Olympics- its a nice rink, if not a bit average by todays standards. The location is awesome (downtown and the skytrain takes you right up to the door). Every time I'm there (was at a game last week in fact) I think of Crosby's famous OT winner. Would be nice to have a statue of him out there one day.
Rexall Place too many times to count- really an awful arena in NHL context, but full of nostalgia for me. Saw my first game in 99 at the age of 4 and a half and distinctly remember a Mighty Ducks player waiving back to me during warmups. Also attended the well known Stefan-gaffe game in 07. In fact I even saw a game in the press box there! Great memories from a rink that housed maybe the greatest NHL team ever.
HP Pavilion once- went to a playoff game a couple years ago; the atmosphere was unlike anything I've ever experienced. Lived on air force bases as a kid and the noise reminded me of an F-18 soaring off. Sharks won the series in OT, saw the Rolling Stones there the next night.
Staples Center once- same road trip, went to a Kings playoff game. The LA Live district is top notch-- so many entertainment options before and after the game. The whole set up is very LA (and I mean that as a compliment). Awesome arena as well, it feels very wide open and grand. Given the large number of high profile events that go on there (Grammys, Lakers winning a few titles, Kings winning a couple, major concerts, MJ's service, etc), dare I say MSG West? Maybe eventually...
Honda Center once- great road trip, hey? Game 7 Ducks-Red Wings. Great game, but I wasn't digging the atmosphere. Seemed... subdued. Odd. The building isn't bad but you can tell its from the 90's. Very basic and cookie cutter.
Jobing.Com Arena twice- cool barn, I love the district around it. A lot of entertainment options and some great restaurants too. The main issue (probably doesn't need repeating) is the location; way out in the suburbs. Imagine the Canucks playing out in Abbotsford, yikes. Wasn't a problem for me as the trip was planned around the games but that is awful for locals I'd imagine.
BB&T Center twice- pretty nice arena, suffers from the same issue as the Yotes though in the location. Plus there isn't really anything immediately around the rink (there is a gigantic mall about a 10 minute walk away, but the way the arena is just "there" without anything close by kind of surprised me). Matt Hendricks smashed his stick on the glass in front of my face during warmup and then tied the game up late, so that was cool.
Amalie Arena once- wow, what a great arena. The plaza before you get in is really cool, there was a live band and other fun things. Nothing really exciting about the game itself, but the overall experience was great.
I also hope to get to MTS Centre, the Sattledome and Xcel Energy Center next year, but we'll see.
Some things I noticed writing that was I subconsciously focused on things not directly related to hockey (other entertainment options around the arena for one) whereas others in this thread I find were more into the feel of the building (the sound of Chicago Stadium, the seating at the Aud, etc). I wonder how much of a generational gap there is to appreciating hockey arenas differently. I've only been to modern NHL rinks so its what I'm used to and it limits me from having a different perspective on what a hockey arena "should" be like.
tarheelhockey
Offside Review Specialist
That was one of Sports Illustrated's first attempt of using a remote control camera. It s quite impressive for 1961.
Killion
Registered User
- Feb 19, 2010
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Indeed... the art of film & photography. Some really brilliant work done by the Turofsky brothers & Frank Prazak from the Golden Age of the game, those collections happily residing at the HHOF where a great many can be viewed on-line.
Bill McCreary
Self-Righteous
The Civic Arena was a great place to watch a hockey game. It was an absolute dump, but there really weren't any bad seats in the entire building. Penguins fans often get accused (rightfully) for not having a loud crowd, but that building was deafening in the postseason, helped a lot by the acoustics of the arena itself.
I hate the Consol Energy Center.
I hate the Consol Energy Center.
Theokritos
Global Moderator
- Apr 6, 2010
- 12,674
- 5,102
I like the look of the exterior of the old Olympia on Detroit, but the inside seating is rather cookie-cutter like today's modern arenas.
Any pics of Harold Ballard sitting in his bunker at Maple Leaf Gardens?
Any pics of Harold Ballard sitting in his bunker at Maple Leaf Gardens?
You can see the strobes going off in that picture.
9 years later SI inadvertently helped Chicago win the Prince of Wales trophy when Bill Friday signaled a goal for Chicago at Boston and the Hawks won the game 1-0.
Goal Judge Wally Moon could be heard yelling at Friday 'Hey Bill, how much do you have on the Hawks tonight?"
What Friday thought was the puck was a SI camera in the net.
The last day of the 1970 regular season was the most bizarre in NHL history. Boston and Chicago were deadlocked at the top but the Red Wings tanked their game against the Rangers and suddenly Montreal had to either win or score 5 goals in Chicago to make the playoffs.
Montreal fell behind and they lifted the goalie late in the second period as all that mattered was scoring 5 goals. They wound up losing 10-2.
Dennis Bonvie
Registered User
You're right about the Hershey Arena. Steepest balcony I've seen. Old Yankee Stadium was almost as bad.
Loved Maple Leafs Gardens, got to see it only months before it closed. Saw the Montreal Forum in the early 80s, Boston Garden from the mid-60s until it closed.
Saw the Colisée Pepsi when the World Championships were there (2008?).
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Talk of the Greensboro Coliseum earlier in the thread got me thinking about all of odd arenas that were used to temporarily house NHL teams over the years.
I've never seen a hockey game in the Calgary Stampede Corral, but I did get inside during the Stampede a few years ago and was struck by how small it was. It must have been amazing to see an NHL game there as it's impossible to be very far away from the ice. My memory might be faulty, but the Corral had the two-level short benches too didn't it? I think the boards were super tall too.
On the opposite end of the spectrum (of size) there was the Thunderdome, that hosted the Lightning for a while.
It predates the NHL and it doesn't host an ice rink anymore, but the Aberdeen Pavillion here in Ottawa is the oldest existing building to have hosted a Stanley Cup match, which it did back in 1904. It's also called by the alternate name of the "Cattle Castle", which is similar sounding to the "Cow Palace" where the Sharks played when they first joined the league (but no more similarities between the two other than the names).
I've never seen a hockey game in the Calgary Stampede Corral, but I did get inside during the Stampede a few years ago and was struck by how small it was. It must have been amazing to see an NHL game there as it's impossible to be very far away from the ice. My memory might be faulty, but the Corral had the two-level short benches too didn't it? I think the boards were super tall too.
On the opposite end of the spectrum (of size) there was the Thunderdome, that hosted the Lightning for a while.
It predates the NHL and it doesn't host an ice rink anymore, but the Aberdeen Pavillion here in Ottawa is the oldest existing building to have hosted a Stanley Cup match, which it did back in 1904. It's also called by the alternate name of the "Cattle Castle", which is similar sounding to the "Cow Palace" where the Sharks played when they first joined the league (but no more similarities between the two other than the names).
Otto
Lynch Syndrome. Know your families cancer history
I went to a handful of games at Maple Leaf Gardens.. I don't miss that escalator.
The last game I went to I took my son as he was a Leafs fan and wanted to go to the arena before it closed, I managed to get the last two tickets in the greys in the back row the day the tickets went on sale. Part way through the game one of the ushers saw my son (who was about 7 or 8 at the time) was having trouble seeing the entire play and took us down to the greens for the last period.
Me being a Habs fan it was a real treat to experience a game at the old Forum before it closed.
The last game I went to I took my son as he was a Leafs fan and wanted to go to the arena before it closed, I managed to get the last two tickets in the greys in the back row the day the tickets went on sale. Part way through the game one of the ushers saw my son (who was about 7 or 8 at the time) was having trouble seeing the entire play and took us down to the greens for the last period.
Me being a Habs fan it was a real treat to experience a game at the old Forum before it closed.
What I remember about the escalator is that Ballard sold advertising on every step. never seen that before or since.
Ballard was cheap. Starting around 1969 he had a roll of playoff tickets printed up starting with Game A and since he put no year or price on the ticket, the team would just continue the sequence the following season. By 1978 they were up to Game R
~6500 seats + ~1500 standing room at the top
Built in 1950 for the Western Canadian Senior League's Calgary Stampeders (later of the PCHL/WHL; Allan Cup champions in 1946 and finalists in 1947 and 1950 before turning pro in '51).
Standard boards are 40" to 48" high; the Corral's are about 54".
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