Winnipeg Arena was an
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 ...
located in the
Polo Park
Polo Park (corporately styled as CF Polo Park) is a shopping centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is situated on the former Polo Park Racetrack near the junction of Portage Avenue and St. James Street. Its grounds also includes a Scotiaban ...
district of
Winnipeg
Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...
,
Manitoba
Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...
, Canada.
The arena was the city's premier
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 ...
venue from 1955 to 2004 and is best remembered as the home of the first
Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, pl ...
franchise, which played in 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) ...
(WHA) from 1972 to 1979 and the
National Hockey League
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 ...
(NHL) from 1979 to 1996. It was also home to junior and
minor league
Minor leagues are professional sports leagues which are not regarded as the premier leagues in those sports. Minor league teams tend to play in smaller, less elaborate venues, often competing in smaller cities/markets. This term is used in Nor ...
teams such as the
Manitoba Moose
The Manitoba Moose are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and a member of the American Hockey League (AHL). The team plays its home games at Canada Life Centre, the home arena of its parent club, Winnipeg Jets o ...
(1996–2004) and
Winnipeg Warriors
The Winnipeg Warriors were a junior ice hockey team that played in the Western Hockey League. They were founded as an expansion team in 1980, but suffered from attendance problems competing with the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League and ...
(1955–1961). The arena closed after the completion of the
MTS Centre
Canada Life Centre (formerly MTS Centre and Bell MTS Place) is an indoor arena in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba. The arena is the home of the National Hockey League's Winnipeg Jets and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Manitoba Moose.
T ...
in November 2004 and was later demolished. A retail and commercial complex occupies the site today.
History
Early years (1955–1972)
Construction on a new facility to replace Winnipeg's obsolete
Shea's Amphitheatre
Shea's Amphitheatre, also known as the Winnipeg Amphitheatre, was an indoor arena located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It seated 6,000 spectators.
Constructed between 1908-1909 for horse shows, the Amphitheatre was also used as an indoor ice ...
began in October 1954. Situated between
Winnipeg Stadium
Canad Inns Stadium (also known as Winnipeg Stadium) was a multipurpose stadium in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
The stadium was located at the corner of St. James Street and Maroons Road, immediately north of the Polo Park Shopping Centre and th ...
and the
Polo Park Racetrack
The Polo Park Racetrack was a Canadian horse racing facility in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Considered one of the finest racetracks in Western Canada, it was built by Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame inductee R. James Speers. The six-furlong track o ...
, the new arena opened its doors for the 1955–56 hockey season and, in its original configuration, had a seating capacity of approximately 9,500. During the 1950s and 1960s, the Winnipeg Arena was considered to be among the finest facilities in the western half of North America.
The Winnipeg Arena's grand opening occurred in conjunction with the first hockey game played on October 18, 1955, a
Western Hockey League
The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...
minor pro game between the
Winnipeg Warriors
The Winnipeg Warriors were a junior ice hockey team that played in the Western Hockey League. They were founded as an expansion team in 1980, but suffered from attendance problems competing with the Winnipeg Jets of the National Hockey League and ...
and the
Calgary Stampeders
The Calgary Stampeders are a professional Canadian football team based in Calgary, Alberta. The Stampeders compete in the West Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The club plays its home games at McMahon Stadium and are the third-old ...
. The ceremonial opening face-off was conducted by Warriors Hockey Club president
J. D. Perrin Sr. before a sell-out crowd (including standing room) of 9,671, a then-record for the league. The following year, Perrin offered to purchase the arena and Winnipeg Stadium from
Winnipeg Enterprises Corporation.
[Staff report (6 January 1956). Perrin Seeks Entire Sports Site. "]Winnipeg Free Press
The ''Winnipeg Free Press'' (or WFP; founded as the ''Manitoba Free Press'') is a daily (excluding Sunday) broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It provides coverage of local, provincial, national, and international news, as well as ...
" In keeping with the tenor of the times, when public ownership was thought to be advantageous, the offer was rejected.
The Warriors called the arena home until 1961, when the club was sold and relocated.
Six years later, the arena found a new tenant in the
Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, pl ...
junior hockey club when it began play in the new
Western Hockey League
The Western Hockey League (WHL) is a major junior ice hockey league based in Western Canada and the Northwestern United States. The WHL is one of three leagues that constitutes the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as the highest level of junior h ...
. The club would later be renamed the Monarchs and played at the arena until 1977.
On September 6, 1972, the Winnipeg Arena found itself in the international spotlight when it hosted the third game of the infamous ''
Summit Series
The Summit Series, Super Series 72, Canada–USSR Series (russian: Суперсерия СССР — Канада, Superseriya SSSR — Kanada), or Series of the Century (french: Série du siècle, Séries of the Century), was an eight-game ic ...
'' between Canada and the Soviet Union. Approximately 9,800 spectators packed the arena to witness the two teams battle to a 4–4 draw.
Winnipeg Jets era (1972–1996)
A new era for the Winnipeg Arena began in the fall of 1972 when the city's new professional hockey team, the
Winnipeg Jets
The Winnipeg Jets are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg. The team competes in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and is owned by True North Sports & Entertainment, pl ...
, entered the upstart WHA. Their on-ice success during the 1970s brought three
WHA championship banners to the rafters of the arena and made the Jets the pride of the city and province.
In 1979, the Jets were one of four teams admitted into the National Hockey League following the
demise of the WHA, which necessitated a major expansion to the arena to meet the NHL's minimum capacity. The seating capacity was expanded to 15,565, mostly through the construction of upper decks on the east and west sides. The construction of these upper decks created an overhang above the lower deck seating areas, obstructing views according to many spectators. That same year, a painting of
Queen Elizabeth II
Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...
was commissioned for the arena by
Francis Lawrence Jobin
Francis Lawrence "Bud" Jobin (August 14, 1914 – August 25, 1995) was a politician and the 18th Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba, Canada.
Jobin was born in Winnipeg, and was educated at the University of Manitoba. He moved to Flin Flon, i ...
, the
Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba. The painting measured (one of the largest ever painted of the Queen) and hung from the arena's rafters.
A White Way sign centre-hung scoreboard with colour matrix animation boards replaced an American Sign and Indicator centre-hung scoreboard circa 1987. The American Sign and Indicator scoreboard, in use since the 1980–1981 season, was moved to
Copps Coliseum
FirstOntario Centre (originally Copps Coliseum) is a sports and entertainment arena at the corner of Bay Street North and York Boulevard in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1985, it has a capacity of up to 19,000.
History
Hamilton was lef ...
in
Hamilton, Ontario
Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Hamilton has a population of 569,353, and its census metropolitan area, which includes Burlington and Grimsby, has a population of 785,184. The city is approximately southwest of T ...
.
During the 1980s, a tradition known as the "
White Out" was initiated in which boisterous and sometimes raucous fans dressed in all-white during playoff games to create an intimidating environment for opposing teams. This led to the Winnipeg Arena's reputation as one of the loudest sports venues in North America during the 1980s and 1990s. This tradition continued with the revived
Jets team in 2011.
Post-Jets era (1996–2004)
Financial troubles forced the Jets to leave Winnipeg in 1996. It was a big blow for the city, but the arena was not without a tenant for long, as the
Manitoba Moose
The Manitoba Moose are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and a member of the American Hockey League (AHL). The team plays its home games at Canada Life Centre, the home arena of its parent club, Winnipeg Jets o ...
of the
International Hockey League moved in the next season.
Renovations once again took place, with the addition of club seats and a new club lounge in place of the North End ice level seats. The Moose would be the arena's last tenant.
The arena found itself back in the international spotlight when it hosted the
1999 IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships. The tournament was a major success, setting a new attendance record, with 170,000 fans taking in the games. With the support of lively crowds reminiscent of the former Jets days, the host
Canadian team advanced to the gold medal game, but lost to Russia in overtime.
Other uses
Aside from hockey, the Winnipeg Arena was often used for
basketball
Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...
, including home games for the
Winnipeg Thunder
The Winnipeg Thunder was a professional basketball franchise based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, from 1992 to 1994. The Thunder played its inaugural season in the World Basketball League, which folded before the schedule ended. The club then joined the na ...
, an independent professional team in the early 1990s; the inaugural
Naismith Cup
The Naismith Cup was an annual pre-season National Basketball Association (NBA) exhibition game. From the 1995 season through 2000, it was played between the two Canadian NBA rivals, the Toronto Raptors and the Vancouver Grizzlies, at neutral ven ...
between the
Toronto Raptors
The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...
and
Vancouver Grizzlies
The Vancouver Grizzlies were a Canadian professional basketball team based in Vancouver. They were part of the Midwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The team was established in 1995, along w ...
on October 21, 1995; and
1999 Pan American Games
The 1999 Pan American Games, officially the XIII Pan American Games or the 13th Pan American Games, was a major international multi-sport event that was held from July 23 to August 8, 1999, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada and surrounding towns and ...
basketball and volleyball tournaments. In preparation for the Games, the portrait of the Queen was removed to make room for banners. It was placed in storage and never returned to the rafters.
The arena was also a frequent concert venue and a stop for professional wrestling tours such as the
WWE
World Wrestling Entertainment, Inc., d/b/a as WWE, is an American professional wrestling promotion. A global integrated media and entertainment company, WWE has also branched out into other fields, including film, American football, and vario ...
. In television and film, the arena was used for the made-for-television documentary ''Inside the Osmonds'' and the
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
film ''
A Season on the Brink
''A Season on the Brink'' is a 1986 book by John Feinstein which detailed the 1985-86 season of Indiana University's men's basketball team, led by the controversial coach Bob Knight. Granted almost unprecedented access to the Indiana University ...
''. The arena, along with its multiple hockey tenants, was a major plot point in director
Guy Maddin
Guy Maddin (born February 28, 1956) is a Canadian screenwriter, director, author, cinematographer, and film editor of both features and short films, as well as an installation artist, from Winnipeg, Manitoba. Since completing his first film in ...
's 2007 film ''
My Winnipeg
''My Winnipeg'' is a 2007 Canadian film directed and written by Guy Maddin with dialogue by George Toles. Described by Maddin as a "docu-fantasia", that melds "personal history, civic tragedy, and mystical hypothesizing", the film is a surrealist m ...
''.
Demolition
The opening of the
privately owned
A privately held company (or simply a private company) is a company whose shares and related rights or obligations are not offered for public subscription or publicly negotiated in the respective listed markets, but rather the company's stock is ...
MTS Centre, now known as
Canada Life Centre
Canada Life Centre (formerly MTS Centre and Bell MTS Place) is an indoor arena in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba. The arena is the home of the National Hockey League's Winnipeg Jets and their American Hockey League affiliate, the Manitoba Moose.
T ...
, in 2004 meant the end for the Winnipeg Arena. The arena's last official event was an
American Hockey League
The American Hockey League (AHL) is a professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary Minor league#Ice hockey, developmental league for the National Hockey League (NHL). Since the 2010–11 AHL se ...
game between the
Manitoba Moose
The Manitoba Moose are a professional ice hockey team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and a member of the American Hockey League (AHL). The team plays its home games at Canada Life Centre, the home arena of its parent club, Winnipeg Jets o ...
and
Utah Grizzlies
The Utah Grizzlies are a professional ice hockey team in the ECHL. They play their home games at the Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah.
Franchise history
The current Utah Grizzlies franchise started in 1981 as the Nashville South Stars ...
played before a
capacity crowd on November 4, 2004. Several former Jets players, including
Bobby Hull
Robert Marvin Hull OC (born January 3, 1939) is a Canadian former ice hockey player who is regarded as one of the greatest players of all time. His blonde hair, skating speed, end-to-end rushes, and ability to shoot the puck at very high veloc ...
and
Teemu Selänne
Teemu Ilmari Selänne (; born July 3, 1970) is a Finnish former professional ice hockey winger. He began his professional career in 1989–90 with Jokerit of the SM-liiga and played 21 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Winnipe ...
, were present for a special ceremony as the banners hanging from the rafters were lowered before the game. Most of the memorabilia from the arena including the seats and the trough from the men's washroom were auctioned off to the public prior to the demolition.
The Winnipeg Arena sat vacant until 2006, at which time the City of Winnipeg took on the $1.45 million expense of demolishing the arena. After the building was gutted, final demolition took place on March 26, 2006. On that morning, hundreds of hockey fans gathered to watch the building fall, while chanting, "Go Jets, Go!" However, the planned implosion failed to bring down the entire structure; construction vehicles later pulled down the remainder. The vacant site was purchased by the
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan
The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board (french: Régime de retraite des enseignantes et des enseignants de l'Ontario) is an independent organization responsible for administering defined-benefit pensions for school teachers of the Canadian pr ...
for $3.6 million and used as a parking lot for
Canad Inns Stadium
Canad Inns Stadium (also known as Winnipeg Stadium) was a multipurpose stadium in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
The stadium was located at the corner of St. James Street and Maroons Road, immediately north of the Polo Park Shopping Centre and the ...
across the street until construction of new retail and office space began in 2011.
The new complex, known as
Polo Park
Polo Park (corporately styled as CF Polo Park) is a shopping centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is situated on the former Polo Park Racetrack near the junction of Portage Avenue and St. James Street. Its grounds also includes a Scotiaban ...
North, opened in 2013.
References
External links
Winnipeg Arena at Ballparks.com
{{Authority control
Sports venues completed in 1955
2006 disestablishments in Manitoba
Sports venues demolished in 2006
Demolished buildings and structures in Canada
Defunct sports venues in Canada
Defunct indoor ice hockey venues in Canada
Basketball venues in Canada
Sports venues in Winnipeg
Western Hockey League arenas
Defunct National Hockey League venues
Winnipeg Jets (1972–1996)
Manitoba Moose
Defunct indoor arenas in Canada
Former music venues in Canada
World Hockey Association venues
Venues of the 1999 Pan American Games
Indoor arenas in Manitoba
1955 establishments in Manitoba
Demolished sports venues
St. James, Winnipeg