Victoriaville Tigres
Rink: Colisee Desjardins
Capacity: 3,420
Built: 1980
League: QMJHL
City: Victoriaville, Quebec
Home Of: Victoriaville, Tigres
Games Attended: 1
Only Game: November 6, 2022 vs Rouyn-Noranda Huskies
Unique Arena: #61
QMJHL Arena: #16
The Colisee Desjardins sits in the middle of Victoriaville, just across the street from a mall. There is a small free parking lot in front of the arena where this photo was taken, but I would think many perhaps park across the street at the mall, as we were there early enough to snag a spot in the rink lot. It’s a small building that from the outside doesn’t look particularly like an arena. It could just as easily be a rec centre or gym or an office complex. What I do like about the outside, however, are the signs that clearly show it is home to the Tigres franchise, which is always a nice touch especially if nothing else about it stands out.
When you enter the arena, you head upstairs from ice level and through some doors past the very small but functional team store, into the concourse which is right at centre ice on the penalty box side. I instantly realized I was going to love this rink. The roof is very low, like Owen Sound low. The video board is extremely small but, in a building this small it works, and I didn’t have any issues watching it through the game or intermissions.
Suites run around three sides of the building, with the fourth side behind the benches offering up a very mini upper bowl of about four rows of seats. All the banners for team success and retired numbers are fixated to the wall behind those upper seats, which leaves the low ceiling bare which in this case is a good thing. The suites have all been added since the rink was built, and they used the space within the four outer walls of the rink so all it does it just make the rink feel even more intimate, and I mean this in the most positive way possible. Add in the in-house DJ and ribbon board and it felt like a professional show. Not at an NHL level, but better than many other junior rinks across the country. The rink is among the smallest in the CHL, but the experience is top notch, and despite the rink being over 40 years old now it feels very new and has been kept up extremely well!
Absolute bonus points for everything being done up in team colours and the seats that spell out ‘TIGRES’ on the bench side of the ice. Unfortunately, my only real gripe was with the seats themselves. While I am admittedly overweight the seats were extremely narrow, and I wasn’t the only one who found this an issue. The arm rests were digging into my hip bones so no amount of weight loss will change that for me lol. Also, one thing the rink hasn’t done that most rinks in the CHL have been adding in recent years is LED lights. It might have been one of the darkest CHL games I’ve ever been to. It wasn’t that bad, but you could notice it wasn’t as bright as it should be. However, seeing as how well they’ve stayed on top of things here, I would imagine that will be an upgrade that is coming soon or perhaps already taken care of since my visit in 2022.
The atmosphere was great for a smaller crowd of 2,000 people and I loved seeing a game here. I definitely want to come back one day.
