Share your memories of the defunct NHL arenas

[Terry Yake]

it's quite something how there was no glass separating the habs bench from the stands at the forum

 

[sharkhawk]

Chicago stadium 1970, first game 1970 6 years old, walking the 104 steps up to the second balcony and then walking out to see the ice. Magical. First of well over 500 games there. The smokers, the sounds the organ, how steep the stands were, it seemed you were almost hanging over the ice. Bobby hull making a rush. Just being in awe.

Over the years

Watching fights down in the mezzanine, the yellow jackets swarming the combatants, hearing from the elders that they were off duty cops who would tune up the drunks before dragging them down to the station. Some years it was more interesting than the team on the ice. Fights were rarer up in the 2nd balcony, it was a steep angle down those steps and down to the mezzanine.

Chanting Dino sucks whenever the north stars were in town, then the capitals and the hated red wings.

People pounding on the boarded up windows, to try to the crowd revved up,

Cheering during the anthem after 1984 playoffs

People lighting sparklers during the anthem in the late 80s early 90s, till someone realizing that was probably not a good idea, in an arena full of people. You can see a few in the 91 all star game anthem videos, but they were banned by then

Getting season tickets in 88. Becoming a family with the crowd that sat around us

The 91 all star game still get chills thinking about it

Watching Mario skate the cup around the ice in 92. The magic of that run and the disappointment at the end

The characters in the second balcony. The people who always got standing room behind us, the big guy in the row in front who had thehawks logo tattooed on his derrière and would moon opposing fans when the hawks scored, the guy a section over who the wirtz jersey with $$ for the numbers. The family who sat first row. We had bbqs every summer

The remember the roar season, the last game where people where people (including us) were taking souvenirs, our seat numbers ( I still have ours. 1 and 2) the row numbers tiles from the washroom

The next season walking up madison and seeing the old lady being torn down, than one day they had opened up the east side and we could see where our seats were, I think my dad got misty eyed. On the way out of the UC we walked along the fence and grabbed a few bricks.

The organ, and Wayne messier belting out the anthem just beneath us. Hearing he got shot outside Hawkeyes about 30 minutes after we left

The st Patrick’s Day massacre, the slap shot game where the hawks and stars brawled during warmup, and Wayne van dorps blood pooled in front of the boxes, the game didn’t end until midnight and people were lined up at the payphones to call the wife to say thy were late because of the game. Michel goulet scoring his 500th goal 100s of other games where I could barely speak at work the next day from screaming too loud

The UC is undoubtedly a nicer arena, with more room escalators,to the second balcony, more food stands wider corridors, nicer bathrooms with no spillage on the floor, urinals instead of troughs, more comfortable seats, but it can’t compare to the athmosphere of the old barn, and I feel sorry for the younger generation who never got to the experience it.

 

[blood gin]

it's quite something how there was no glass separating the habs bench from the stands at the forum

And it's especially strange seeing folks looking like they're heading out for a night at the Metropolitan Opera at a hockey game.

 

[tarheelhockey]

And it's especially strange seeing folks looking like they're heading out for a night at the Metropolitan Opera at a hockey game.

Seems like those seats would be reserved for the organization's business purposes, rather than to put on sale to the public. I could be wrong but the crowd in both of those pictures has a "hockey exec" look, and one of the guys actually has a stick logo of some sort on his jacket.

 

[DJ Man]

And it's especially strange seeing folks looking like they're heading out for a night at the Metropolitan Opera at a hockey game.

My mom made my brother and me wear suits when we went to games with my uncle in the early 1960s.

It was another time ...

 

[DJ Man]

(Oops ... duplicate!)

 

[Pominville Knows]

it's quite something how there was no glass separating the habs bench from the stands at the forum

They had the luxury of winning enough not to get pummeled in the middle of a minor funk.
How was the costume crowd of pre-1970ies behaving? When not some outsider commissioner turned up up just after sudpending the franchises GOAT? Were they gentlemen/upper class enough to not throw acid in the players necks?

 

[Mandar]

Madison Square Garden before the renovations....in the 70's, 80's, and half of the 90's.....a very passionate place to be.

Had season tickets in the old blue seats (being known as a "blue seater" was a badge of honor)….and the Garden had various colors of different tiers (red, orange, green, yellow, then the blue seats....from bottom to top). NYR fans could make the iconic roof of the Garden shake at times.....and if a NYR player was on our bad side (hello Rod Seiling), it wasn't a welcoming place to be.

At playoff time, sound actually had a feeling to it, and even though there was only one championship, the place was always packed.....and we all always had hope.

 

[Terry Yake]

My mom made my brother and me wear suits when we went to games with my uncle in the early 1960s.

It was another time ...

around what time did the majority of men stop wearing suits to games and started dressing more casual/in team apparel?

i want to say the mid 80s? those habs pictures look to be from the late 80s but i wouldn't use that as reference because those people are clearly not the average joe hockey fan

 

[WingsFan95]

It's funny to think Maple Leafs Gardens would be the 2nd smallest arena in the league today, without any updates. I went there for a few University games since Ryerson took over so can't speak to how it was in 00 or prior. A lot of people forget the Toronto Rock won the Championship both seasons playing there and that the last pro game played was for the NLL Title. Kinda cool that fact.

Former arenas I DID visit would be:

Joe Louis on many, MANY occasions and I hate Little Caesars, don't care what people have to say in comparison I loved the Joe. Greatest hockey arena ever.

Colisee Quebec on one occasion for a Remparts game many moons ago. I could definitely see why the Nords couldn't stay there very long after 95.

Civic Arena/Mellon for Game 4 of the 08 Cup Final. Unique to say the least.



And as a side-note, I've been to the Montreal Forum site to watch a movie.....

 

[a79krgm]

The Met Center in Bloomington, MN will never be forgotten. My first game I attended was in 1973 and my last game was the last home game in franchise history in April of 1993. The sightlines were great, parking was plentiful and ticket prices where cheap.

Off the top of my head I've listed what was most memorable to me ...

1. Tailgating during the 1991 Stanley Cup playoffs
2. Colored seats
3. Hamms beer
4. Packed houses
5. Not so packed houses
6. Big banner that read, "Our Stars are Rising" circa 1979+
7. Jim Bowers
8. Seeing the 1980 US Olympic team play homes games there
9. Chicago Blackhawks hatred
10. Hallways that smelled like urinals

 

[Howie Hodge]

The old Winnipeg Arena. I remember in 1980 when they retrofitted three thousand more seats to make it NHL-worthy. It was spring time and Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky, Ken Dryden and about 20 other NHL and former WHA players were hosting a benefit game for one of Bobby's old teammates - Billy Hiendle - who paralyzed himself in a failed suicide bid. I didn't have a ticket to get in, but I was outside of the arena in the construction site. I noticed a bunch of older teens scaling the fence and climbing up a rickety ladder to get into an open wall in the construction site... it led straight into the stands (second level, I believe)! I saw this and followed suit. I found an empty seat and watched the game for free. Gotta love old-time security. And yes, I would have paid to get in if I had the money, but I was a kid not old enough for a part time job at the time.

Yes! In the late 70's/early eighties the Police Officers who took their coffee break at the downtown Buffalo Swiss Chalet (which I worked at) would drop us off from their squad cars under the Aud by a set of stairs leading in. All we had to do was find a seat. Concerts, but most importantly Sabres games...

Early 90's, through working with the NPSL (Indoor Soccer League), I got a press pass, with which I entered on a side entrance, and went through "security." Security was a nice older woman, who after seeing my pass a couple times would wave me in. Eventually she'd wave me in to Sabres games also - even if I had a guest. The Sabres made their money back in beer sales - no guilt here!

I'm smiling writing this, that was just some great times, and the price was right! lol

 

[Howie Hodge]

Former arenas I DID visit would be:

Joe Louis on many, MANY occasions and I hate Little Caesars, don't care what people have to say in comparison I loved the Joe. Greatest hockey arena ever.

Joe Louis was excellent, having been there. It was almost identical, structurally, to The Richfield Coliseum in Cleveland. I worked in Cleveland for an indoor soccer team (Cleveland Force) so I was very familiar with the building.

So I go to The Joe for an event in the late 80's, and worked with the organizers. I found everything easily, as it was the same layout. I was asked how I could possibly know where everything was as it was my first visit to The Joe. I just told them I was a quick read... lol

 

[pvr]

MLG also wasn't a regulation shaped rink though it is rarely remembered as one (much like the Aud, Boston Garden, Chicago Stadium) but MLG had somewhat irregular corners

Chicago Stadium was actually supposedly the best preserved/maintained of the classic rinks when it closed. And they also crammed the most people into an absolutely tiny area. I remember Roenick in an interview mentioning that it would get so loud and people would just bang on things in the upper decks that dust from the roof areas would often fall down onto the ice

Boston Garden I can remember was a warm rink. You were just right on top of your neighbor in the seats. Seats seemed ancient as well. I think many of them were still the original ones from the 20's

Regarding Chicago Stadium, here are a few memories and observations.

The old Stadium seems like you could place it within the current United Center. The volume was much smaller, and therefore everything was considerably louder. The noise was sometimes deafening, and the anthem would make the hairs on your neck stand up.

The last rows of the upper most deck were good seats...almost felt as if you were hanging over the ice.

The organ was loud too. I seem to recall that its sound was piped through the ventilation system.

The first goal horn in the NHL was in the Chicago Stadium, taken from Bill Wirtz’s yacht. It would vibrate your chest.

There was plywood covering windows on either end in the upper deck. The drunken fans would stand with backs to the ice, pounding with two closed fists on the plywood to the Indian beat of “BOOM boom boom boom, BOOM boom boom boom...”. Crowd would be whipped up into a frenzy.

Did I say that it was loud?