Visited WHL Arenas
Max Bell Centre - Calgary, AB
On my first proper trip to Calgary in February of 2023 to see the WHL’s Hitmen at the Saddledome, we stopped in for a quick peek at the Max Bell Centre. This rink’s main tenant since the 1970s has been the AJHL’s Calgary Canucks, but the WHL’s Calgary Wranglers actually played two playoff games here in April 1979.
Chilliwack Coliseum - Chilliwack, BC
The Chilliwack Coliseum was built in 2004, and not long after it was granted a WHL expansion team, the Chilliwack Bruins. However, the team rather unfairly left in 2011 for Victoria, BC. Since then, its main tenant has been the BCHL’s Chilliwack Chiefs. In the spring of 2025, it was announced however that the WHL would return to Chilliwack with a new expansion team in 2026, however those plans appear to have been delayed until 2027 now. I stopped in to check it out during a WHL trip in the area in March 2024 knowing it was a former WHL building, and noticed then that the rink is the perfect size for major junior. I look forward to going to a WHL game here in a couple years.
Kamloops Memorial Arena - Kamloops, BC
Kamloops Memorial Arena was built in 1948 and is much like many arenas across the country built during the post-war arena boom. It was the main arena for the city of Kamloops until 1992, when the now-named Sandman Centre was built a few minutes’ drive down the street. In 1981 the powerful New Westminster Bruins left their dynasty years behind to move to Kamloops and become the Blazers, who called Memorial Arena home until the aforementioned new arena was built in 1992 and they moved down the street. Shockingly the Blazers did return to the Memorial Arena for a single playoff game in 2016. While an arena like this could pass major junior standards in the 1980’s, it’s hard to believe a Blazers game was played here in the last decade. I got to walk around the rink while in Kamloops for the 2023 Memorial Cup, and as you can see the ice had already been removed for the summer, but the rink now hosts the local minor lacrosse teams of the area.
Kelowna Memorial Arena - Kelowna, BC
The Kelowna Memorial Arena shares many similarities with its Memorial Arena counterpart in nearby Kamloops. Built in the postwar boom of 1945, the arena and city were granted a WHL expansion team in 1982 known as the Wings… and they sucked. After two awful seasons and a mediocre one, the team relocated to become today’s Spokane Chiefs. In 1995 after the expansion Rockets franchise had floundered for four years in Tacoma, Washington, the team moved to Kelowna, keeping the same identity and logo. For the team’s first four years in Kelowna, they played here. This rink is a bit smaller than its counterpart in Kamloops, and while the Kamloops rink could pass for the WHL by the early 90s, it’s very hard to believe the Rockets managed to play four seasons here in the late 90s. Prospera Place was built in 1999 just a few blocks north to give the Rockets a new home. It’s a beautiful post-war barn that still hosts minor hockey to this day, and I was happy I checked it out before my Rockets game in March 2024.
Medicine Hat Arena - Medicine Hat, AB
Medicine Hat Arena might have been one of the best old barns the WHL and the CHL has ever seen. While not quite as old as the post war buildings (it was built in 1970), it had all the atmosphere and soul of a post war barn. Crowds at Medicine Hat Tigers games here were stuff of legend and the rink had decades long sold-out streak. The Tigers moved to the outskirts of town in 2015 when Co-Op Place was built, and my review of that building talks about how it is everything the old Arena wasn’t. The Arena hosted a couple different farewell events after the Tigers left, but for the past several years has been awaiting the wrecking ball, which has been delayed a few times. The plan is to have the building gone by the end of 2026. Before my trip to Medicine Hat in February 2023 I emailed the city and asked if there was any way I could get inside just to see it once. Not unexpectedly, I was told no due to insurance reasons (totally understandable) so I could only see it from the outside. Even then I was glad to see even the exterior before it meets its fate.
Kopar Memorial Arena - Prince George, BC
The originally named Prince George Coliseum was built in 1958 and was the main arena for the northern BC outpost for nearly 40 years. Since 1972 it has been home to the BCHL’s Spruce Kings. In 1994 the Cougars arrived from Victoria, and while construction on their new arena (the CN Centre) was underway, it would not be ready until the team’s second season, so the WHL’s Cougars called this place home for their inaugural season of 1994-95. We stopped in before going to the Cougars’ fall 2023 home opener and were meet with an absolutely gorgeous rink with hardwood floors, great views of the ice and an intimate feel, which I would imagine has a fantastic atmosphere. It made me wish the Spruce Kings were in town that weekend to see a game. Unfortunately, it sounds like the rink’s days might be numbered. While it isn’t closing immediately, there is talk about its lifespan coming to an end by the 2030s.
Wayne Fleming Arena - Winnipeg, MB
The Wayne Fleming Arena is part of the Max Bell Centre complex on the grounds of the University of Manitoba, and hosts the school’s hockey teams. However, in 2019 the rink suddenly became part of the WHL. The WHL had not had a presence in Winnipeg since the Warriors had left in 1984 for Moose Jaw, other than the odd Brandon Wheat Kings game hosted at the old Winnipeg Arena and newer Canada Life Centre. Even when the city had no NHL Jets from 1996 to 2011, the city got its hockey fix from the AHL’s Mantioba Moose. However, after on-ice success but not great attendance in Cranbrook, BC, the Ice were sold to new owners who moved the team to Winnipeg with the intentions of Wayne Fleming Arena being a stop gap while they could build a major junior sized rink in the southwest corner of the city. Unfortunately, the Covid-19 pandemic hit right after, and while the Ice survived the pandemic itself a new rink ended up being just a pipe dream. After just four years in the city the team was sold once again and moved to Wenatchee, Washington to become the Wild. I stopped in at Wayne Fleming Arena in February 2024, less than a year after the Ice had left, to check the place out and was surprised to see a lone banner in the corner with all the Ice franchise’s accomplishments listed. Oddly enough almost all of those accomplishments were from the team’s days in Kootenay. Ironically, the Winnipeg Ice never got to raise a banner for their own biggest accomplishment of winning the WHL’s Eastern Conference championship in 2023, before thankfully losing to Seattle in the league final. I say thankfully only because win or lose the Ice were moving that summer regardless, and having your reigning league champion relocate would’ve been a bad look for the WHL. However, staying at Wayne Fleming was an even worse option, and walking around the arena it’s hard to believe it hosted the modern day CHL even for its short four seasons.
