Moose Jaw Civic Centre hosts final WHL home opener

Lyle Helland still remembers the time the roof blew off the Moose Jaw Civic Centre in 1959. He has seen championship hockey and world class players – all right on top of the action.

It will be a bittersweet night Friday for Helland. The Civic Centre will host its final WHL home opener when the Swift Current Broncos visit the hometown Warriors. While it will be gone soon, it will not be forgotten.

“No place in the league like this one,” Helland said, as he remembers 50 years of Warriors hockey at the Civic Centre.

With its distinctive roof, which best resembles a crushed can; it is one of the most unique hockey arenas in all of Canada. The building opened in 1959 with Tommy Douglas and jazz legend Louis Armstrong presiding over the ribbon cutting.

To most visitors, it may appear small, drafty, and oddly shaped – but to Helland, it will forever be home to hockey in Moose Jaw.

“You know, all the other rinks you’re quite a ways away, the sound isn’t there,” Helland said. “The sound is great in here when it’s full!”

What makes the building unique is also what caused its downfall. The Civic Centre is too small and the award-winning design is too restrictive. A new multi-million dollar facility is currently under construction in downtown Moose Jaw.

“We’re at the stage in our development in the league that we just need more amenities, more things for the fans to be able to come out and enjoy the sports entertainment aspect, as well as the hockey game on the ice,” Warrior’s Director of Business Operations Corey Nyhagen said.

There are only 36 regular season games left for fans to enjoy the Civic Centre and soak in the history. The team is milking the history angle by going with the title History Lives Here.

“It’s not so much about the Warriors playing in the Crushed Can, it’s just the crushed can itself,” Nyhagen said. “The Civic Centre in Moose Jaw and everybody that’s come through it. We’ve got a few interesting things lined up for the season.”

Mayor Glen Hagel agrees the history is what makes the building so important.

“Our sentimental feelings aren’t really about the building itself,” Hagel said. “They’re about the things that took place within it, and it’s about the people who were involved.”

Helland himself will bring a half century of memories to the new rink when it opens in the fall.

“There have been some great things since the WHL even came back here, with the different sports announcers coming,” Helland said. “They’d get in some great battles in this rink. We’ve had a lot of fun.”

No final decision has been made about what will happen to the Civic Centre after the final game in the spring. Hagel said it will probably end up in private hands who will decide what happens to the building.