London Knights
Rink: Canada Life Place
Capacity: 9,036
Built: 2002
League: OHL
City: London, Ontario
Home Of: London Knights
Games Attended: 14
First Game: October 31, 2008 vs Plymouth
Most Recent Game: May 8, 2025 vs Oshawa
Canada Life Place (formerly Budweiser Gardens, formerly John Labatt Centre) is a large and imposing building in the heart of downtown London. Built on the site of the former Tablot Inn part of that buildings old facade was saved at the rear of the arena. It dominates the block with its presence and being in the heart of downtown you don’t get the vast parking lots like you do in the suburbs and expect to pay top dollar if you want to be close to the rink. If you don’t mind walking a few blocks though free street parking can be found.
The experience in London is pro all the way. In fact Canada Life Place and the London Knights run a show that I would consider better than many pro hockey teams. The arena itself a half size version of the entertainment centre era of NHL rinks built in the 90s. A full OHL sized lower bowl along with a U shaped upper bowl with extremely steep seats. I found the lower bowl to be a bit to shallow for my liking on my first visit in 2008 and have sat in the upper bowl for every game since then. It offers a view that you just don’t get to see in junior hockey often and its one I honestly prefer anyway, though your tastes might be different.
Getting around the arena can be a bit of a chore, one reason being from the usual sold out crowds of 9,000 people jammed into the concourse. But more so than that you cannot go 360 degrees around the building in the lower level concourse as one end of the building holds the dressing room areas and zamboni garage etc. On top of that you cannot access the lower bowl concourse on the penalty box side of the ice unless you have club tickets which is fairly annoying. There is also only one set of escalators to take fans to the upper bowl, and it get severely backed up at times.
While getting around the building can be a chore the show once you get to your seat as I mentioned is a 100% pro hockey experience with decades of team history to tap into and a full building of fans every night. It’s an operation that would make many AHL teams jealous. Even the grab and go style of concession stands seen only in the last several years in the NHL have made its way to the once nicknamed JLC. The views from the upper bowl are fantastic with a top down view of all the action. At the top of the upper bowl U is a balcony with standing room options as well.
It’s no secret that the London Knights in the last 20 years have become known as the New York Yankees of junior hockey and are hated by all 19 other markets in the OHL, not just their divisional rivals. The Knights and their fans have really leaned into this with the “Knights vs Everybody” branding which is very smart on their part. Then when they win (which is annoyingly often) they go with “Knights Beat Everybody.”
Many people are shocked to find when I don’t rank it number 1 in the CHL or even the OHL. It is a solid experience but obviously it lacks some of that small town charm with old barns that still make up much of the CHL. But as the years go by many rinks get replaced and London has become the measuring stick and for good reason.
Games Attended
October 31, 2008: London 6 – Plymouth 3
December 5, 2008: London 3 – Brampton 2
May 7, 2012: London 3 – Niagara 2
February 1, 2013: London 1 – Brampton 0 SO
April 10, 2014: Guelph 6 – London 3
May 17, 2014: Guelph 5 – Edmonton 2
May 19, 2014: Guelph 6 – Val d’Or 3
May 21, 2014: Guelph 7 – London 2
May 25, 2014: Edmonton 6 – Guelph 3
November 16, 2017: London 7 – Guelph 4
April 16, 2019: Guelph 6 – London 3
April 14, 2023: London 8 – Kitchener 4