The Edmonton Gardens was the first
indoor hockey arena built in
Edmonton
Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...
,
Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...
, Canada. It was originally built as Edmonton Stock Pavilion in 1913, and held 5,200 spectators after its 1966 renovations.
It was home to the
World Hockey Association
The World Hockey Association (french: Association mondiale de hockey) was a professional ice hockey major league that operated in North America from 1972 to 1979. It was the first major league to compete with the National Hockey League (NHL) ...
's
Edmonton Oilers
The Edmonton Oilers are a professional ice hockey team based in Edmonton. The Oilers compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. They play their home games at Rogers Place, which ...
from 1972 to 1974. The Oilers moved to the brand new
Northlands Coliseum
Northlands Coliseum is a now-unused indoor arena located in Edmonton, Alberta, situated on the north side of Northlands. It was used for sports events and concerts, and was home to the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association (WHA) and ...
after the 1973–74 season. In addition to the Oilers, the
Edmonton Oil Kings
The Edmonton Oil Kings are a major junior ice hockey team based in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, that play in the Western Hockey League. As of July 2008, they are owned by Daryl Katz's Oilers Entertainment Group, which also owns the Edmonton Oilers ...
,
Edmonton Eskimos hockey team, and
Edmonton Flyers played their home games at Edmonton Gardens. It held a wide variety of events, including hockey, curling, basketball, boxing, figure skating, circuses, rodeos, bingo nights, car shows, conventions, horse shows, and bull sales.
The arena was built at the fairgrounds in order to be away from the city, thus allowing it to also be used as a livestock pavilion, alongside the stables and
horse race track. The opening ceremonies were held on Christmas Day 1913, exactly 19 years after Edmonton's first hockey game, featuring a hockey game between two
Stanley Cup finalists, the Edmonton Eskimos and the Edmonton Dominions, which over 2,000 fans attended.
Their previous arena, Thistle Rink, had just burnt down that year.
The Dominion's forward
Russell "Barney" Stanley would become a member of the
Hockey Hall of Fame, and the arena would be home to other Stanley Cup finalist teams,
Memorial Cup
The Memorial Cup () is the national championship of the Canadian Hockey League, a consortium of three major junior ice hockey leagues operating in Canada and parts of the United States. It is a four-team round-robin tournament played between t ...
teams, and three Memorial Cups. It was the only home of the Edmonton Flyers (1939–51).
The Gardens got the nickname "The Cow Barn" from attendants emphasizing its use for agriculture exhibitions, in particular for livestock shows. It also was notorious for bad sight lines and uncomfortable seats.
The girders, that were also in the way of spectators, dripped water onto the ice/play surface creating mounds during play. By the 1960s, it was often criticized as being a fire hazard. A $60,000 improvement in 1963 did little to improve its safety, leading to having seven
Edmonton Fire Department firefighters stationed at each event. Media increasingly called it a dirty, obsolete, and rickety building, and an April 15, 1966 ''
Edmonton Journal'' article called Edmonton Gardens "a disaster waiting to happen. The old house, with its obsolete lighting fixtures, oily wooden floors, and sordid washrooms, is an eyesore to hockey fans."
The following month, the city fire chief condemned it, and ordered it closed as a fire hazard. That summer saw a $670,000 renovation that gutted the interior, and replaced the steel girders with columns at 45°. The wooden bleachers were replaced with a fireproof concrete grandstand, and reduced the seating capacity to 5,200.
The Oilers and Oil Kings moved across
118 Avenue to
Northlands Coliseum
Northlands Coliseum is a now-unused indoor arena located in Edmonton, Alberta, situated on the north side of Northlands. It was used for sports events and concerts, and was home to the Edmonton Oilers of the World Hockey Association (WHA) and ...
, in 1974. Demolition of the Gardens began January 20, 1982, but quickly disproved the moniker "accident waiting to happen." "Firstly, they stuffed it with 50 kilograms of dynamite, then, they used a bulldozer, but still the grand old lady of Edmonton sports wouldn't budge," one story reported. "Gardens won't go boom," the headline read, recounting two days of the crew drilling holes into the walls and supports, and then cramming in 320 sticks of dynamite.
An ''Edmonton Journal'' article on February 25, 1982, read "Gardens 2 TNT 0. A second try at demolishing what's left of the Edmonton Gardens ended with a wham, a puff of dust and peals of laughter. The building stood in mock defiance amid hoots of glee from the gallery (of onlookers)."
Northlands Park elected to finish the demolition with a wrecking ball.
Another arena, Hall D of the
Edmonton Expo Centre
The Edmonton Expo Centre, formerly the Northlands AgriCom and also known as the Edmonton Exposition and Conference Centre is a multi-purpose convention centre in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Operated by Explore Edmonton on behalf of the City of Edm ...
, currently occupies the site.
Indoor soccer
Because the Northlands Coliseum was unavailable, Game 1 of the
1981 NASL indoor finals was played at the Edmonton Gardens on March 2, 1981. In it the
Edmonton Drillers defeated the
Chicago Sting
The Chicago Sting (1974–1988) was an American professional soccer team representing Chicago. The Sting played in the North American Soccer League from 1975 to 1984 and in the Major Indoor Soccer League in the 1982–83 season and again from ...
, 9–6, in front of 5,089 fans.
The Drillers went onto sweep the finals, two games to none, five days later in Chicago.
See also
*
List of Commonwealth Games venues
The following are lists of all Commonwealth Games venues, starting with the first Commonwealth Games in 1930, alphabetically, by sport and by year.
As a multi-sport event, competitions held during a given the Commonwealth Games usually take p ...
References
{{Former NHL arenas
Sports venues in Edmonton
Defunct indoor arenas in Canada
Former music venues in Canada
Edmonton Oilers arenas
Edmonton Drillers (1979–1982)
Defunct sports venues in Canada
Defunct indoor ice hockey venues in Canada
Indoor arenas in Alberta
Western Hockey League arenas
World Hockey Association venues
Demolished buildings and structures in Alberta
Sports venues completed in 1913
1982 disestablishments in Alberta
Boxing venues in Canada
1978 Commonwealth Games venues
1913 establishments in Alberta
Sports venues demolished in 1982
North American Soccer League (1968–1984) indoor venues
Demolished sports venues