Chicoutimi Saguenéens
Rink: Centre Georges Vezina
Capacity: 4,724
Built: 1949
League: QMJHL
City: Saguenay, Quebec
Home Of: Chicoutimi Saguenéens
Games Attended: 1
Only Game: September 21, 2018 vs Baie-Comeau
Unique Arena: #43
QMJHL Arena: #2
The Centre Georges Vezina sits just south of the old downtown of Chicoutimi, Quebec on the banks of the Saguenay River. This area features the only bridge east of Quebec City that allows for vehicle traffic over the Saguenay without going further north or west. The rink was built in 1949 and hasn’t changed much since then. A new front facade was added in recent years which gives it a bit of a grander look with a glass facade. There is a large parking lot on site as well which was free to use during our trip here in the fall of 2018.
Upon entering the building, you are brought into a small front foyer that has the team store off to the side, which is not much bigger than a large walk-in closet. If you continue walking straight you will go through another set of doors and find yourself at the glass behind one of the nets. There is a pathway between the ice and the seats, but it is broken up by the team benches which sit on opposite sides of the ice in true old barn fashion. There is another concourse at the top of the bowl, but it is fairly narrow.
The ice surface in Chicoutimi is the only one in the CHL which is Olympic-sized at 200’x100′, which gives the rink another unique twist. Just beware, some of the seats near the top of the bowl on the sides have some obstructed views thanks to support beams that run in an arch from the top of the bowl and up to the roof. The roof in Chicoutimi is all wood and the feel of the place reminds me a lot of Sudbury Arena. There are also some suites hanging above the seats in one of the end zones along with an extra smaller videoboard. The opposite end of the rink has another unique touch. In English Canada it was of course very common to see photos of Queen Elizabeth II hanging from somewhere in the rafters. In Chicoutimi they have corpus crucifix. The game we attended was a sold-out home opener against rival Baie-Comeau in the fall of 2018. The atmosphere was decent, but not as Quebec mad as I was expecting. However, the Drakkar winning a fairly boring defensive battle of a game might not have helped.
A few people over the years have asked me what the deal is with the team’s name of the Chicoutimi Saguenéens. Chicoutimi was once its own town, but in the 1970s it along with several adjacent towns all amalgamated to form what is now the city of Saguenay. The rink itself is in what was the former town of Chicoutimi. As for the Saguenéens it’s basically referring to people from the Saguenay region. Basically, the Chicoutimi Saguenéens are Quebec’s answer to the Peterborough Petes.
What the hell is a Sag anyway?
