The Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre (formerly UBC Winter Sports Centre, also known as UBC Thunderbird Arena) is a LEED Silver certified

indoor arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

Greater Vancouver Greater Vancouver, also known as Metro Vancouver, is the metropolitan area with its major urban centre being the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The term "Greater Vancouver" is roughly coterminous with the geographic area governed b ...

, on the campus of the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a public university, public research university with campuses near Vancouver and in Kelowna, British Columbia. Established in 1908, it is British Columbia's oldest university. The university ranks a ...

. Located in the

University Endowment Lands The University Endowment Lands (UEL) is an unincorporated area that lies to the west of the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, and adjacent to the University of British Columbia and the lands associated with that campus. Pacific Sp ...

, it is just outside the city limits of

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

. The arena is home to the

UBC Thunderbirds The UBC Thunderbirds are the athletic teams that represent the University of British Columbia in the University Endowment Lands just outside the city limits of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In Canadian intercollegiate competition, the Thu ...

men's and women's

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...

teams, and contains one international-size 61 m × 30 m (200 ft × 98.4 ft)

ice rink An ice rink (or ice skating rink) is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice created using hardened chemicals where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The ...

. The facility was built around an older ice hockey facility, the historic Father Bauer Arena, which opened in October 1963. This was named after the late Father David Bauer, who, together with

Bob Hindmarch Robert George Hindmarch (May 27, 1930 – February 20, 2021) was a Canadian educator, sports administrator and ice hockey coach. He was a multi-sport athlete at the University of British Columbia (UBC) as a student, and returned as a professor ...

, established Canada's first national hockey team at UBC in 1963 in preparation for the

1964 Winter Olympics The 1964 Winter Olympics, officially known as the IX Olympic Winter Games (german: IX. Olympische Winterspiele) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1964 ( bar, Innschbruck 1964, label=Austro-Bavarian), was a winter multi-sport event which was celebr ...

. The UBC Thunderbird Arena replaced the Father Bauer Arena as the home of the UBC Thunderbirds ice hockey team. It is also the practice facility for Vancouver's

NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

team, the

Vancouver Canucks The Vancouver Canucks are a professional ice hockey team based in Vancouver. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference, and play their home games at Rogers Arena. Bruce B ...

. The main

has 7,500 seats and can expand to 8,000 for concerts. The other rinks are Father Bauer Arena and Protrans Arena with spectator capacities of 980 and 200, respectively. Construction began in April 2006 with the refurbishment of the Father Bauer Arena and the addition of a new practice arena. The new stadium arena was opened on July 7, 2008. On August 21, 2009, the Thunderbird Sports Centre was renamed Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre in honour of Doug Mitchell, an UBC

alumnus Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

, and amateur and professional sports leader.

2010 Vancouver Olympics

The venue was used for several men's and women's

ice hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics Hockey at the 2010 Winter Olympics was held at Rogers Arena (then known as GM Place, and renamed ''Canada Hockey Place'' for the duration of the Games due to IOC sponsorship rules) in Vancouver, home of the National Hockey League's Vancouver Can ...

, and was used for sledge hockey in the 2010 Winter Paralympics.Vancouver2010.com profile.
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Davis Cup

The venue was used in Canada's first round draw against France in the

Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is run by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and is contested annually between teams from competing countries in a knock-out format. It is described by the organis ...

in February 2012, and it was used again in February and April 2013 when Canada faced Spain and then Italy.

2014 Special Olympics Canada Summer Games

The 2014 Special Olympics Canada Summer Games were held in Vancouver and the university was the host venue for the competition being held from July 7 to 13, 2014. The Games featured athletes with an intellectual disability from across the country competing in eleven sports, ten of which were also qualifiers for the

2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games The 2015 Special Olympics World Summer Games were a multi-sport event for athletes with intellectual disabilities held in Los Angeles, United States from July 25 to August 2, 2015, in the tradition of the Special Olympics movement. These Game ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States.

Notable Events

Sodagreen Sodagreen (; stylized as sodagreen) is a Taiwanese indie band formed in 2001. Its members have been unchanged since 2003. Sodagreen emerged in the Taiwanese indie music scene after receiving the Grand Jury Award in the Hohaiyan Gongliau Rock Fes ...

- Meet again World Tour - 20 September 2015

A-Mei Kulilay Amit (, born 9 August 1972), better known by her stage name A-Mei, is a Taiwanese Puyuma singer and record producer. In 1996, she made her singing debut and released her album, ''Sisters''. Her albums ''Truth'' (2001), ''Amit'' (2009), ...

- Utopia World Tour - 29 November 2016

Joker Xue Joker Xue (, born 17 July 1983) is a Chinese singer-songwriter and record producer. Formerly known as Jacky Xue, Xue is known for his hit songs and stage charisma with his signature musical style. Since his 2006 debut, Xue has produced a string ...

- Skyscraper World Tour - 3 November 2018

Olivia Rodrigo Olivia Isabel Rodrigo (born February 20, 2003) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She gained recognition in the late 2010s with her lead roles on the Disney television programs ''Bizaardvark'' and '' High School Musical: The Music ...

- Sour Tour - 7 April 2022

Carly Rae Jepsen Carly Rae Jepsen (born November 21, 1985) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. After studying musical theatre for most of her school life and while in university, Jepsen garnered mainstream attention after placing third on the fifth season of ...

The So Nice Tour The So Nice Tour was the fourth concert tour by Canadian recording artist Carly Rae Jepsen. Launched in support of her sixth studio album ''The Loneliest Time'' (2022), The tour began on 21 September 2022 and concluded on 13 August 2023. Backgr ...

- October 29, 2022

References

External links

Official website
{{Olympic venues in ice hockey Vancouver Canucks Indoor arenas in British Columbia Indoor ice hockey venues in Canada Venues of the 2010 Winter Olympics Olympic ice hockey venues Sports venues in Vancouver Tennis venues in Canada University of British Columbia University sports venues in Canada UBC Thunderbirds 2008 establishments in British Columbia Sports venues completed in 2008 Basketball venues in Canada Badminton venues Badminton in Canada Tennis in British Columbia National Hockey League practice facilities