Sarnia Sting
Rink: Progressive Auto Sales Arena
Capacity: 5,200
Built: 1998
League: OHL
City: Sarnia, Ontario
Home Of: Sarnia Sting
Games Attended: 7
First Game: October 4, 2008 vs Brampton
Most Recent Game: April 7, 2023 vs Guelph
Unique Arena: #15
OHL Arena: #11
Progressive Auto Sales Arena sits at the east end of Sarnia on the grounds of Lambton College. It has a huge parking lot, which is nice, but one drawback (if you work for tourism Sarnia) is anyone coming from out of town doesn’t actually have to visit the city. I don’t think I ever went west of the arena until about my sixth visit there other than driving on the 402 to the US border. Also, while there is a restaurant inside the rink, it is fairly bare bones and there isn’t anything else in the immediate area within walking distance.
Sidenote, this might be one of the coldest memories of a photo I’ve ever taken. It was late March, but damn was it cold and windy that day. My fingers were freezing as I took this single shot.
The main entrance in Sarnia deposits you directly into the concourse at centre ice behind the penalty boxes. Sarnia’s rink is almost identical to other clone arenas in Guelph and the Soo, with similarities to those in Oshawa and Niagara. There’s about 5,000 seats with an unobstructed concourse for easy views of the action when you have to stand in line. There is also another ice pad that the other side of the aforementioned restaurant looks down on. The Sting have gotten much better over the years with adding some of that black and yellow branding throughout the arena. The team store is a fair size and well stocked. The views from the seats are all pretty good as one would expect with the modern-day clone rinks.
One odd design of the arena is the suites just end halfway down the penalty box side of the building. Usually, rinks will put in suites just on one side or go in the full U shape or down the two sides with none in the ends. This rink has the suites in more of a reverse J, but with the press box added on, so next to the press box there’s just nothing but the bare wall. Over the years they have added alumni banners in that space. The end without the suites uses the space mostly for advertising. Also of course Steven Stamkos’ number 91 hangs proudly in the rafters as well.
I sincerely hope the Sting can win a title someday. They’ve been in the league since 1994 and have yet to make it to a league final; hell they just got to the third round for the first time ever in 2023. They only have two division titles in that time as well despite tons of top tier NHL talent coming through their system. They are one of the more hard luck franchises of the OHL, but their fans are a hardy bunch who come back year after year. Believe it or not, there seems to have been a slight uptick in attendance since their conference final run in 2023.
