After much speculation, particularly earlier this week, Edmonton’s city council voted unanimously to close the former home of the Edmonton Oilers on Wednesday.
Northlands Coliseum was the scene of many milestone moments during the Oilers’ heydays in the 1980s and so perhaps it wasn’t a surprise that many Edmontonians had something to say about Wednesday’s development.
READ MORE: Fans make noise in stands, on social media for last Oilers game at Rexall Place
The news of the closure, expected to officially happened when the city assumes control of the arena as well as the Northlands Park horse-racing track on Jan. 1, triggered a flood of responses on Twitter, many users finding humour in news of the old barn being put out to pasture.
Perhaps the most talked about tweet came from Twitter user VisuallyBetter. He tweeted a GIF of a fake live shot from Global 1 News helicopter showing a semi-truck hauling the arena down a highway.
“In an amazing demonstration of sportsmanship, Edmonton has donated Northlands Coliseum to Calgary,” the tweet reads. It appeared the user was referencing Calgary’s recent arena woes. Just yesterday, the Calgary Flames announced they would not be seeking to build a new hockey arena in Alberta’s largest city.
The GIF showing Northlands Coliseum included the hashtags #Flames and #StayOffQE2 and appeared to be a playful way of reigniting Edmonton’s longstanding rivalry with Calgary. The tweet was trending nationwide on Twitter on Wednesday.
Here’s how some other people were reacting on social media to the latest Northlands developments on Wednesday.
https://twitter.com/ilovesports250/status/908047880627220481
https://twitter.com/IDidTheIggy/status/908048260773715968
https://twitter.com/FTofD/status/908031851096195072
https://twitter.com/JockCartier/status/908016576741351424
READ MORE: Edmonton’s Northlands Coliseum closing its doors in January
Get breaking National news
Watch below: Edmonton city council has unanimously voted to close the Northlands Coliseum arena on Jan. 1, 2018. Vinesh Pratap explains the the reason for the decision.
Comments