Baie Comeau Drakkar
Rink: Centre Henry Leonard
Capacity: 3,042
Built: 1970
League: QMJHL
City: Baie-Comeau, Quebec
Home Of: Baie-Comeau Drakkar
Games Attended: 1
Only Game: September 22, 2018 vs Chicoutimi
Unique Arena: #44
QMJHL Arena: #3
Getting to this arena is an adventure on its own, a beautiful drive up the north shore of the St. Lawrence River, but it’s going to take you a while and it’s not a drive I’d want to take after the snow flies. The rink sits not far from the edge of the St. Lawrence River, with a small forest between the river and the back of the rink. The rink sits along a quiet residential street and has plenty of free parking.
The Drakkar sign above the front entrance is made out of wood and was beginning to peel badly when I was there, however looking at newer pics I believe it’s been replaced or at least touched up since then. It’s a nice piece that loudly announces the presence of the team.
When you enter the arena, you go through a corridor that actually takes you past the secondary ice pad, which is the one that sits closer to the front entrance. The corridor opens up into a large open space with a concession and bar area as well as the main team store, which was just a small kiosk with a small selection of merch behind the counter. As you can see above the spectator rink itself is an odd setup, with much more seating on one side. The roof line slopes up, so the top of the larger side is the highest point of the building while the smaller side of seats is the back side of the rink. It’s setup in a football grandstand style so the seats closer to the corners don’t exactly face the action, but they are all comfortable new plastic, and I was surprised with how much leg room I had.
You cannot navigate fully around the ice in Baie-Comeau. There is a concourse that runs under the seats on the big side. One end of the ice has a few rows of seats with a corridor that runs along top of it that brings you across to the smaller side of seats which also has a small corridor along the top of the seats. These sections have no concession areas and are just there to get you to your seats if you’re not sitting on the larger side.
As you can see the roof is all metal, so despite a smaller crowd for the game, we attended the noise was pretty good. I’ve been told during the playoffs the place is insane loud.
I get a bit of an Owen Sound vibe from this place. The red seats probably help that cause, but also, it’s the fact that it’s isolated from the rest of the league (granted much more than OS) in a smaller community barn with a low roof. They also both never have a hope in hell of having a Memorial Cup hosting spot, but they’re fun as hell to take a game in at. The videoboard is brand new and HD quality and run well. But the main show here is the crowd and how loud they are – not much production is needed.
The below pan-o-ram shot is from the top row, which as you can see isn’t all that far from the ice. The press box is right behind my back in that shot, so calling a game must feel like being part of the crowd when it gets loud. Also, the view from those small suites on the right must be amazing being literally on top of the glass.
The Centre Henry Leonard is a very unique experience that I wish I could experience over and over again. Unfortunately, it’s just so damn far from anything that it’s hard to justify going back again.
