Chatham Maroons
Rink: Chatham Memorial Arena
Capacity: 2,412
Built: 1949
League: GOJHL
City: Chatham, Ontario
Home Of: Chatham Maroons
Games Attended: 1
Only Game: April 27, 2025 vs St. Marys
Unique Arena #111
GOHL Arena #1
Any level of hockey lower than Major Junior has never really been my forte. My quest to go to a game in all sixty CHL arenas kept me pretty busy, and even more so when I started going to games in the NHL, AHL and ECHL. But sometimes opportunities come up to do something a bit different, and when it’s over you think, ‘I’m glad I did that.’ That’s what I felt after going to a Jr B game in Chatham, Ontario to see a high-intensity playoff game at a fantastic old barn between the hometown Maroons and the visitors from St. Marys. The Chatham Memorial Arena sits on a quiet residential street in the south end of the city, surrounded by sports fields and a couple of small but serviceable parking lots. The building is almost indistinguishable from many post war arenas that popped up across Canada in the late 1940s and early 1950s. It’s a building with an arched roof that gives it that true barn look, with a small area that extends further out that contains offices and the concession area.
Upon entering the arena’s main entrance, which is near the front corner of the building you can walk straight towards the other corner. This corridor houses the lone concession counter in the building. There are also a couple of small bathrooms in this area. If you hang a left upon entering, you would head down a corridor that would lead you to the dressing room areas. At each corner of the building there is a set of stairs to take you up to the main concourse that goes around the top of the seating area.
There are seven rows of wooden benches that surround the ice surface, and it is all general admission seating. There is also just enough room for standing behind the back row of benches on the walkway around the bowl. There are support columns at the top of the bowl, but these will only obstruct your view if you have a standing room spot. There are also press boxes hanging over the seating areas at centre ice on either side of the building, and a newer serviceable scoreboard hanging over centre. Also, due to the small size of the rink there is white netting surrounding the entire playing surface.
The arena is full of history, with tons of banners in the rafters celebrating the long history of the Maroons franchise, which dates back to 1959, as well as other teams that have called the arena home over the decades. The walls of the concourse are also lined with fantastic old photographs and artifacts of years gone by. Plus, there’s a simple but effective touch of some maroon paint on the walls. There is also a small team souvenir kiosk in one of the far corners of the concourse. Admittedly, the night we went was pretty high stakes, as Chatham was in the midst of a conference final playoff series. With such high stakes the crowd and atmosphere were incredible as soon as the teams hit the ice and the game got underway. Unfortunately for us and the Chatham faithful, the Maroons stunk the joint out that night, and the atmosphere slowly died out as the game went on. But fear not, Chatham would not only go on to win the series but also capture the Sutherland Cup for 2025.
There are no ad breaks, tons of crowd chants and people going crazy for their hometown junior B team. It felt like a pretty pure way to watch a hockey game in a world where we are constantly bombarded with ads and QR codes on video screens. When I left that night it made me think that perhaps I should check more of this league out. I honestly have no desire to watch Junior A or B hockey when the team plays in what amounts to a community rec centre with 75 people in the stands. But when the team plays in an old barn like this with 1,500-2,000 screaming fans, I’m all in!
Chatham has long been thought of as an untapped market for the OHL. Over the years, many potential owners have kicked the tires at bringing an OHL team to Chatham; most shocking on this list would be the brothers Hunter who instead bought and very successfully run the London Knights organization. The biggest issue with Chatham is the city never seems interested in building a new OHL-calibre venue. Many have suggested over the years that you could always put an OHL team into Memorial Arena as a temporary venue until a new one could be built, or to even to hook the community into demanding a new venue for the city. Unfortunately, Chatham Memorial Arena is just too old, too small and too cramped to be thought of even as a temporary venue for the OHL. If the OHL ever comes to town, there is a 99.9% chance it will never take place within these walls. But for now, the Maroons still pack the old barn with crazy fans who make it feel like you’re watching a game in a post war world.
