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The location of centre ice of the Winnipeg Auditorium, where so many Stanley Cup games were played and won, is today a stall in a parkade. It should be celebrated with a marking of some kind. Maybe a painted logo. 13/20
In 1909, the Winnipeg Amphitheatre was built as a replacement for the Auditorium. It was the only artificial ice hockey rink between Toronto and Vancouver, seating 5,000 people. It stood where the giant surface parking lot for Great West Life is today. 14/20
The new rink created a sports hub in the city, sitting beside Osborne Stadium, home to baseball and football, including the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and the Granite Curling Club. 15/20
In 1929, The Winnipeg Amphitheatre would host the Allen Cup and be the first major arena to use a hockey score clock that showed fans the score and period time. This innovation would soon spread across North America. 16/20
In 1955, The Winnipeg Amphitheatre was replaced with Winnipeg Arena. The 10,100 seat arena would become the home of hockey in the city for the next 40 years, expanded to 15,400 seats when the Winnipeg Jets entered the NHL. Today the site is a retail and office building. 17/20
The Arena would host many famous games, including the third game of the 1972 series between Canada and the Soviet Union. The game would end in a 4-4 tie which would make the 8 game series a best of 7, leading to the famous Paul Henderson goal in Moscow. 18/20
The arena is fondly remembered as the birthplace of the Winnipeg Jets. Its portrait of the Queen, steep upper decks and intimate atmosphere made it a special place for the Winnipeg Whiteout. (photo is from my last Jets 1.0 game) 19/20
The 15,100 seat MTS Centre was built in 2004, and is today the centre of Winnipeg’s hockey world, as dedicated fans hope to end the 119 year drought since the last time the Stanley Cup was raised by a Winnipeg team. 20/20
