Nepean Sportsplex is a sports facility in

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada. It is located at 1701

Woodroffe Avenue Woodroffe Avenue ( Ottawa Road #15) is a major north-south arterial road in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada's west end. It runs south from the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway through Baseline Road and Barrhaven to just short of Prince of Wales Drive near ...

north of the Ottawa Greenbelt, near the former Confederation High School along

OC Transpo OC Transpo, officially the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Transit Commission, is the public transit agency for the city of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It operates an integrated hub-and-spoke system including light metro, bus rapid transit, conventional ...

routes 74 and 75 in the former city of

Nepean Nepean may refer to: Places Australia *Nepean Bay, a bay in South Australia, ** Nepean Bay Conservation Park, a protected area in South Australia, ** Nepean Bay, South Australia, a locality *Nepean Highway, Victoria *Nepean Island (Norfolk Islan ...

. This is the home arena to the

Nepean Raiders The Nepean Raiders are a Junior ice hockey team from Nepean, Ontario, Canada. They are a part of the Central Canada Hockey League. The town of Nepean was granted expansion after the Cornwall Royals and the Hull Hawks left the CJHL for the Queb ...

hockey team of the

Central Canada Hockey League The Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL) is a Canadian Junior "A" ice hockey league operating in eastern Ontario, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the Hockey Eastern Ontario and Hockey Canada and is a member of the Canadian Junior Hockey League ...

History

Nepean Sportsplex was built in 1973 as a central facility for the former city of

. The site contains an athletics centre (including fitness room) & gym,

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding ...

, soccer and football fields, 4 squash courts, convention space,

swimming pool A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, paddling pool, or simply pool, is a structure designed to hold water to enable Human swimming, swimming or other leisure activities. Pools can be built into the ground (in-ground pools) or built ...

lawn bowling Bowls, also known as lawn bowls or lawn bowling, is a sport in which the objective is to roll biased balls so that they stop close to a smaller ball called a "jack" or "kitty". It is played on a bowling green, which may be flat (for "flat-gre ...

, 10 curling sheets, and three ice rinks including a 3000-seat

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 spectato ...

. In addition to nearby neighbourhoods, the Sportsplex served the community of

Barrhaven Barrhaven is a suburb of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is located about southwest of the city's downtown core. Prior to amalgamation with Ottawa in 2001, Barrhaven was part of the City of Nepean. Its population as of the Canada 2021 Census was 10 ...

until the Walter Baker Sports Centre was constructed in 1980. In 1997, the 3000-seat arena was named Steve Yzerman Arena in recognition of

Steve Yzerman Stephen Gregory Yzerman (; born May 9, 1965) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player currently serving as executive vice president and general manager of the Detroit Red Wings, with whom he spent all 22 seasons of his NHL playing c ...

of the

Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...

, who played with the

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

team in his youth. The

Ottawa Junior Riders The Ottawa Junior Riders are a Canadian football team based in the Nepean area of Ottawa that plays in the Quebec Junior Football League. The Junior Riders play at the Nepean Sportsplex, but have previously called Frank Clair Stadium at Lansdown ...

of the

Quebec Junior Football League The Quebec Junior Football League (QJFL) is a junior Canadian football competition held in Quebec, Canada since 1970, as a successor to the Quebec Juvenile Football League. It began competition as a conference of the Canadian Junior Football League ...

also play here. The Sportsplex was the site of Ottawa's first mass

vaccination Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...

clinic during the

COVID-19 Pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identified ...

Facilities

Nepean Squash Club: Began with 4 squash courts and an upstairs viewing gallery in 1974 and called itself the Nepean Squash Racquets Club. Then 4 more courts were added in 1976. By 2004, only 6 courts remained to make way for a weight room, and by 2008, only 4 courts remained. Active membership of over 100 club players with House League, City League, Tournaments, Round Robins, Socials and Lessons.

Foyer Gallery

The facility includes the Foyer Gallery, an artist-run exhibition space that operates under the auspices of the Foyer Gallery Artists’ Association and the City of Ottawa. The gallery features visual art by established and emerging regional artists.

Notable events

The facility hosted 8 games in the

2013 IIHF Women's World Championship The 2013 IIHF Women's World Championships was the 15th world championship sanctioned by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and was the last world championship before the 2014 Winter Olympics. The tournament was hosted in Ottawa, Ontar ...

.
The facility hosted the

2000 Ontario Nokia Cup The 2000 Nokia Cup, southern Ontario men's provincial curling championship was held February 7-13 at the Steve Yzerman Arena at the Nepean Sportsplex in Nepean, Ontario. The winning rink of Peter Corner, Todd Brandwood, Drew Macklin and Dwayne ...

, the provincial men's curling championship.

References

External links

Nepean Sportsplex

Nepean Squash Club WebsiteFoyer Gallery
{{Portal bar, Ontario Indoor ice hockey venues in Ontario Soccer venues in Ontario Sports venues in Ottawa Art museums and galleries in Ontario