The Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex (also known as The Aud) is a multi-use municipally-owned facility in
Kitchener Kitchener may refer to:
People
* Earl Kitchener, a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom
** Herbert Kitchener, 1st Earl Kitchener (1850–1916), British Field Marshal and 1st Earl Kitchener
** Henry Kitchener, 2nd Earl Kitchener (1846–1937) ...
, Ontario, Canada. The complex is located on East Avenue, near the Ottawa Street interchange on the Conestoga Parkway. The complex includes "The Kitchener Memorial Audiorium" with the ''Dom Cardillo Arena'', two smaller community arenas the ''Kinsmen Arena'' and ''Kiwanis Arena'', the ''Jack Couch Stadium'' baseball park, ''Centennial Stadium'' (track and field, soccer / football) and a skatepark outside the stadium.
Kitchener Memorial Auditorium
The Kitchener Memorial Audiorium, or The Aud for short, includes a main ice rink (the
Dom Cardillo
Dominic Cardillo (October 26, 1930 – April 14, 2013) was a Canadians, Canadian politician, who served as mayor of Kitchener, Ontario, Kitchener, Ontario from 1982 to 1994.seating capacity of 7,234 and a total capacity of 7,777, including standing room. It is home to the Kitchener Rangers of the Ontario Hockey League.
The original arena was built in 1950 and has been expanded three times since then.
The Aud hosted the
2008 Memorial Cup
The 2008 Memorial Cup was played in May 2008 in Kitchener, Ontario at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex, Memorial Auditorium. It was the 90th annual Memorial Cup competition and determined the junior ice hockey, major junior ice hockey cham ...
from May 16 to May 25, 2008, with 437 additional permanent seats being added. The Aud previously hosted
1962 Memorial Cup
The 1962 Memorial Cup final was the 44th junior ice hockey championship of the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association. The George Richardson Memorial Trophy champions Hamilton Red Wings of the Ontario Hockey League, Ontario Hockey Association in E ...
,
1975 Memorial Cup
The 1975 Memorial Cup took place May 3–11 at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex in Kitchener, Ontario. It was the 57th annual Memorial Cup competition, organized by the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association (CAHA) to determine the cham ...
and
1984 Memorial Cup
The 1984 Memorial Cup occurred May 12–19 at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium in Kitchener, Ontario. It was the 66th annual Memorial Cup competition and determined the major junior ice hockey champion of the Canadian Hockey League (CHL). Part ...
games.
Other notable
junior ice hockey
Junior hockey is a level of competitive ice hockey generally for players between 16 and 21 years of age. Junior hockey leagues in the United States and Canada are considered amateur (with some exceptions) and operate within regions of each cou ...
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career a ...
,
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book o ...
INXS
INXS (a word play, phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian Rock music, rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. The band's founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboar ...
NBA
The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
exhibition games.
Seating
Approximate capacities:
* 7,777 - Hockey
* 7,312 - Basketball
* 8,462 - End stage concert
The Aud features 26 luxury suites and seated full-service restaurant.
History
The current Aud replaced an earlier facility, the Queen Street Auditorium, at the corner of Charles St., built for $55,000 in 1904. Use of that building ended after a major fire in 1948.
In its early days, the natural ice surface of the old Aud supported hockey, with the first game seeing Berlin trounce Brantford 7-3, in front of an audience of 2,000. Artificial ice was installed in 1927 and this was the home of the Waterloo Siskins, a team formed in 1937. The Kraut line also played at this facility. "It was home to me and it was a palace, as far as I was concerned," Milt Schmidt recalled in 2016. By the time of the Second World War however, when most young men were overseas, so the building was used primarily as a Big band era dance hall. Another factor in this change was that Silverwood Dairies, which had provided the refrigeration for the ice surface, moved to another location in 1938, ending the availability of inexpensive artificial ice. Afterwards, the city was without a large indoor ice surface until the new Aud was built.
Renovations
In 2008, Kitchener Rangers president Steve Bienkowski stated that the Rangers had begun the process of researching the possibility of building a new arena with larger capacity. The Rangers had sold out almost every game for the previous 3 years, and the waiting list for season tickets had been well over the cap of 4,750. Mr. Bienkowski stated the Rangers would like a building with at least 10,000 seats.
Bienkowski presented the City of Kitchener council a report on expanding the Aud. The expansion would have included another level of seating as well as an expanded concourse. The expansion proposed to add 3,500 seats to the facility to make total seating capacity around 10,500. The estimated cost was $44 million. This expansion option was the favoured route for the team, as it was estimated that a new arena with a larger seating capacity (about 10,000) would cost $150 million. City council made it clear they would not finance such a large project unless private companies were adding money to it but had been very favourable at the idea of expanding the city-owned building. The plan includes raising the roof on the building, a process which had been done before with the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium in the early 1970s.
Bienkowski and the city came an agreement involving the Aud being expanded by 1,000 seats with a concourse on the third level. The expected cost for this expansion was roughly $9 million, with the Kitchener Rangers Hockey Club paying for it, via a loan from the City of Kitchener. Work began in February 2012 and was completed by the end of that year. Upon completion the seating capacity is 7,234, including about 920 new seats in the regular seating area and 80 new seats in new suites, with a standing room capacity of 7,777.
As of January 2020, talks are underway by the City of Kitchener to move the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium to a new location as the building nears a time where more renovations are required to the facility.
Centennial Stadium
Centennial Stadium was a football/soccer stadium next to The Aud. The stadium seated 3,200 spectators and was the largest stadium in Kitchener.
The stadium was additionally noteworthy for its location with easy highway access from Waterloo, Guelph, and Cambridge and its track and field facilities.
In the spring of 2011, the grandstand at Centennial Stadium was deemed unsafe and ultimately condemned. On Tuesday, June 12, 2012, Kitchener City Council voted 6-4 to demolish the grandstand, it has since been torn down. Jacob Hespeler Secondary school has recently added an artificial turf field as well as an improved track surface, in order to fill the gap that was left after Centennial was demolished.
Jack Couch Park
Jack Couch Park is a 1,400-seat
baseball park
A ballpark, or baseball park, is a type of sports venue where baseball is played. The playing field is divided into the infield, an area whose dimensions are rigidly defined, and the outfield, where dimensions can vary widely from place to pla ...
The Aud.jpg, Exterior
Kitchener Memorial Auditorium interior (1).jpg, Interior Prior to 2012 Addition
Kinsman Arena - Kitchener Memorial Auditorium - Kitchener, ON.jpg, Kinsman Arena, home to the
Kitchener Dutchmen
The Kitchener Dutchmen were a Canadian junior ice hockey team based in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. They played in the Mid-Western division of the Greater Ontario Junior Hockey League.
History
The Kitchener Dutchmen franchise was founded in 195 ...
Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex - Facade.jpg, Facade
See also
*
List of indoor arenas in Canada
The following is a list of indoor arenas in Canada with a capacity of at least 1,000 for sporting events. The arenas in the table are ranked by capacity; the arenas with the highest capacities are listed first.
Current arenas
Canada's largest indo ...