Visited QMJHL Arenas
Colisée Jean-Béliveau - Longueuil, QC
The Colisée Jean-Béliveau was built in 1968 and is very similar to the now demolished Moose Jaw Civic Centre, known as the crushed can. The difference between Moose Jaw and Longueuil is most of the seats are on one side of the arena in Longueuil, and they are incredibly steep. The other side of the stands only go up a few rows. The rink was the home of two different QMJHL franchises, the Chevaliers from 1982-1987 and the Collège Français from 1988-1994. I visited the rink in November 2022 before going to a Habs game that night in Montreal.
Moncton Coliseum - Moncton, NB
The Moncton Coliseum was built in 1973 near the western edge of Moncton and hosted four different AHL teams from 1978 till 1994, when the AHL started slowly moving away from Atlantic Canada. In 1995 the rink became home to the second QMJHL franchise in the Maritimes after Halifax got the Mooseheads one year prior. The Moncton Alpines were a disaster and were close to folding before new ownership took over in the spring of 1996 and changed the team’s identity to the Wildcats. They remain a respected and successful member of the QMJHL to this day. The Wildcats moved out of the Coliseum in 2018 when the Avenir Centre opened downtown. Despite the new arena downtown, the Coliseum continues on and still hosts minor hockey and trade shows. I quickly stopped in before my Wildcats game the the Avenir Centre in October 2023. The rink was locked up, but the adjacent hall had a book show set up next door. We went into the book show and then walked through the Zamboni door to see the rink. A city worker was none too happy to see us, we explained we just wanted a quick look at the Coliseum and we were permitted to look for a few minutes from the Zamboni area only and quickly left.
Aréna Jacques-Laperrière - Rouyn Noranda, QC
The Aréna Jacques-Laperrière is more of a footnote of recent QMJHL history. Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec used to be two separate towns, Rouyn AND Noranda. Each had arenas of similar sizes. Aréna Jacques-Laperrière sits in what was the town of Rouyn, while Noranda had Dave Keon Arena where the QMJHL’s Huskies elected to call their home when they got to the now amalgamated city of Rouyn-Noranda in 1996. In 2011 the Dave Keon Arena underwent some massive renovations that went a bit overtime, so the Huskies played a few games here while the renovations at their home were completed. Naturally I stopped in for a look a few hours before the Huskies game I went to in November 2021.
Stade L. P. Gaucher - St Hyacinthe, QC
One of the most used phrases on this website is post-war arena. Well the Stade L.P. Gaucher is one of the oldest operating arenas left in Canada, as it was built before World War II in 1937. Considering the arena is approaching its 90th birthday it is still in very good shape as of my visit on a bitterly cold day in February 2020. The roof is a wooden barrel arch and the 2,000 or so seats in the arena are all wooden benches painted in bright primary colours. Despite the arena’s long history, it only hosted the QMJHL from 1989 to 1996 when the St. Hyacinthe Laser called the arena home. During that time Martin Brodeur played for the Laser, and a retired banner hangs in the rafters for him. The Laser left in 1996 to become the Rouyn-Noranda Huskies. The rink is likely too small for the modern day QMJHL to ever to return, but I was happy to take a quick peek inside.
