The Cherry Hill 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 Cherry Hill,

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, built in 1959. It was originally known as the Ice House and renamed the Delaware Valley Gardens before assuming its most familiar name. The arena, which seated 4,416, was the home of the short-lived

Jersey Larks The Jersey Larks are a defunct professional ice hockey team which played in the Eastern Hockey League during the 1960-61 season. Based in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, they played their home games out of the Haddonfield Ice House. Coached by Ray Miron ...

of the

Eastern Hockey League The Eastern Hockey League was a minor professional United States ice hockey league. Eastern Amateur Hockey League (1933–1953) The league was founded in 1933 as the Eastern Amateur Hockey League (EAHL). The league was founded by Tommy Lockhart, ...

in 1960-61 and hosted occasional home games of the

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 ...

Philadelphia Warriors The history of the Golden State Warriors began in Philadelphia in 1946. In 1962, the franchise was relocated to San Francisco, California and became known as the San Francisco Warriors until 1971, when its name was changed to the current Golden St ...

. In 1964 EHL hockey returned to the arena in the form of the

Jersey Devils The Jersey Devils were an American professional ice hockey team based in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. The Devils were formed when the Philadelphia Ramblers, a member of the Eastern Hockey League, relocated to Cherry Hill at the end of the 1963–64 ...

, who would be the arena's longest-lasting tenants, surviving until the EHL folded in 1973. Early in the 1973–1974 hockey season, the

New York Golden Blades The New York Raiders were an ice hockey team in New York City, and founding member of the World Hockey Association. Intended to be the WHA's flagship franchise, the team was unable to compete with the National Hockey League's established New Yo ...

of 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) ...

moved to the arena and played there as the ''New Jersey Knights'' for the rest of the season. ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' later described Cherry Hill Arena as "perhaps the worst facility" used by any WHA team, noting that it lacked showers in the dressing room for visiting teams, who had to dress at a

Holiday Inn Holiday Inn is an American chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia. and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson, who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee that year. The chain was a division ...

two miles away, and that the arena's ice surface was not even level, giving the home team a distinct

home advantage In team sports, the term home advantage – also called home ground, home field, home-field advantage, home court, home-court advantage, defender's advantage or home-ice advantage – describes the benefit that the home team is said to gai ...

as the visitors would have to skate uphill to the opponent's goal. . By 1978 the arena had been renamed The Centrum. The Jersey Aces of the Northeastern Hockey League began the 1978-79 season as tenants at the Centrum, but moved to

Hampton, Virginia Hampton () is an independent city (United States), independent city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Virginia in the United States. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population was 137,148. It is the List ...

, after a handful of home games. The Cherry Hill Arena was demolished in the 1980s and replaced by a shopping center, the main tenant of which was – at different times – a

Kmart Kmart Corporation ( , doing business as Kmart and stylized as kmart) is an American retail company that owns a chain of big box department stores. The company is headquartered in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, United States. The company was inc ...

and three grocery stores, a Super G,

Stop & Shop The Stop & Shop Supermarket Company, known as Stop & Shop, is a regional chain of supermarkets located in the northeastern United States. From its beginnings in 1892 as a small grocery store, it has grown to include 406 stores chain-wide. Sto ...

, and lastly a Hung Vuong Food Market (Former Shoprite). Another shopping center, called the Centrum Shops, uses the arena's final name but is located across Brace Road from the arena site. The Arena was owned by David Baird IV, CEO of Haddonfield Lumber.

References

{{Coord, 39.8904, -75.0167, region:US-NJ_type:landmark, display=title Cherry Hill, New Jersey Defunct indoor arenas in the United States Indoor ice hockey venues in the United States Demolished sports venues in New Jersey World Hockey Association venues 1959 establishments in New Jersey 1980s disestablishments in New Jersey Sports venues completed in 1959 Indoor arenas in New Jersey