Quebec Remparts
Rink: Colisee Pepsi
Capacity: 15,176
Built: 1949
League: QMJHL
City: Quebec City, Quebec
Former Home Of: Quebec Remparts
Games Attended: 9
First Game: May 22, 2015 vs Kelowna
Last Game: May 31, 2015 Oshawa vs Kelowna
Unique Arena: #36
QMJHL Arena: #1
The Colisée in Quebec City was built during the post war arena boom of the late 1940s across Canada. When finished, it seated about 10,000 people in one large bowl of steep seats rising above the ice. The arena itself is located not far from the junction of Autoroute’s 40 and 973 on a large piece of exhibition land that holds not just the Colisée but its massive replacement next door, the Videotron Centre, as well as the smaller arena the Pavillion de la Jeunesse, as well as some halls and the home of TVA Sports as well as lots of parking. I guess I never thought to take a photo of just the building when I was there for the 2015 Memorial Cup, so you get the above exterior shot with me in the photo as well lol.
In anticipation of the WHA’s Nordiques moving to the NHL in 1979, the building underwent a massive renovation that saw the addition of the upper bowl. They had to work within the existing footprint of the building, so most of the upper bowl seats were in the end zones and extended almost all the way to the ceiling of the building. On the sides, there was only enough room for about six rows of seats that are basically hung on the wall and offer an incredible view of the ice. This unfortunately gave the seating at the very top of the lower bowl an obstructed view. As incredibly steep as the upper bowl is, the lower bowl is also quite steep which had the rabid Quebec crowds right on top of the action.
The crowds at the Colisée were legendary. Not many CHL teams regularly get crowds higher than 10,000, but after the Nordiques left for Colorado in the mid 90s all of the hockey passion in the city shifted focus to their Remparts. The Colisée was my first live hockey experience in the province of Quebec, and it met all the stereotypes. There were kids playing mini sticks in all the odd nooks and crannies of the concourses, the snack bar poutine was top shelf, and the crowds were downright nutty at times. During the tournament semi final the Remparts were getting rocked by the WHL Champion Kelowna Rockets and there had been some missed calls that made the crowd quite ornery. After a missed cross-checking the call the crowd went into a near riot, raining down garbage and whatever else they could get their hands on down towards the ice surface. It was a completely surreal scene to see.
That 2015 Memorial Cup tournament was the final games played at the Colisée before the Videotron Centre opened that fall. I feel very fortunate to have been able to witness a week’s worth of games there, and I only wish I had gotten to some regular Remparts games at the building before that.
Today the building is used as storage and has sat quiet and mostly dark the past decade, but it does have an upcoming date with the wrecking ball which will be a sad day for arena enthusiasts like me indeed, and an even sadder day for the people of Quebec City.
Games Attended
May 22, 2015: Quebec 4 – Kelowna 3
May 23, 2015: Oshawa 4 – Rimouski 3
May 24, 2015: Oshawa 5 – Quebec 4 OT
May 25, 2015: Kelowna 7 – Rimosuki 3
May 26, 2015: Oshawa 2 – Kelowna 1
May 27, 2015: Rimouski 4 – Quebec 0
May 28, 2015: Quebec 5 – Rimouski 2
May 29, 2015: Kelowna 9 – Quebec 3
May 31, 2015: Oshawa 2 – Kelowna 1 OT