April 2, 2015, was the last time Belleville hockey fans were able to pack the Yardmen Arena. Back then, it was to cheer on the OHL Bulls.
“We’ve been waiting a long time here to get hockey back in Belleville, we’re all old Bulls fans,” Former Bulls season ticket holder and current Senators season ticket holder, Don Anderson said.
“Everybody was really upset when they left. And they left in a hurry, they didn’t give us much too much notice,” Longtime Belleville Hockey fan Glen Reid said.
Fast-forward to today and the finishing touches are being put on the Yardmen as the Belleville Senators of the American Hockey League get set to host their first game in their new home Wednesday night.
“We equate it to, ‘we’ve moved into a new house and we’re hosting a wedding reception on the same day,'” Senators VP of Communications, Roger Lajoie, said. “That’s kind of what we’re doing here in a new arena and having a hockey game. This building only got occupancy on Monday night.”
Some notable additions to the Yardmen include a new score clock, an entire section towards the back of the arena, and, once the rink was scaled down from Olympic to NHL size, four rows of seats were added to the bottom of each seating section.
But what some say is the best addition is the new second-level fan zone.
“The fan zone is going to be very unique, very similar to what you’d see in the NHL,” City of Belleville Director of Recreation Mark Fluhrer said. “What you’ll see is a stand up and watch the game position. There’s also bar stools and tall table tops and a couple of bars within it.”
A lot has been made of the deal struck to bring the Baby Sens from Binghamton, N.Y. to the Friendly City, but as puck drop approaches, Belleville is ready to live up to its nickname, with a sell-out crowd expected for the return of professional hockey Wednesday night at 7 p.m.
“This the second best hockey league in the world. This is Belleville, Ontario, that’s pretty cool,” Fluhrer said.
“I think we all have to say to ourselves ‘let’s pinch ourselves a little bit, we’ve got some work to do, but let’s take a few minutes to enjoy what we’ve accomplished.’”
And while the sweaters worn in the stands may be different, the city of Belleville is happy to have a reason to cheer again.
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