Pacific Coliseum
is an indoor arena at Hastings Park, in Vancouver, British Columbia. Completed in 1968 at the site of the Pacific National Exhibition, the arena currently holds 16,281 for ice hockey, though capacity at its opening was 15,569.
The Coliseum is currently the home of the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League. The arena also hosts a variety of events and concerts. It has also been chosen as the venue for figure skating and short track speed skating in the 2010 Winter Olympics.
Other hockey tenants of the Pacific Coliseum have been the Vancouver Canucks of the NHL from 1970-1995 and the WHL from 1968 to 1970, the Vancouver Blazers of the WHA from 1973-1975 and the Vancouver Voodoo of the RHI from 1994-1995.
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PACIFIC COLISEUM TICKETS
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History
Designed by W.K. Noppe in 1966–67, with its simple geometric shape and distinctive ring of white panels, the building can be classified as
formalist architecture. Used initially as home to the
WHL's Vancouver Canucks, the building was used to attract an
NHL franchise in 1970 and a
World Hockey Association franchise in 1973. The Coliseum underwent renovations and additions in the late 1970s, but its role as host of an NHL team and a main venue for events in Vancouver was lost with the building of
GM Place in 1995.
Recent renovations were completed in 2007 to upgrade seating,
HVAC, and ice surface for its use as a venue for the
2010 Winter Olympics [1].
Events
The Coliseum hosted its first NHL game on October 9, 1970. The
Los Angeles Kings defeated the Canucks 3–1 in the Canucks NHL debut. The Kings'
Bob Berry scored the first goal, with
Barry Wilkins scoring the first goal for the Canucks. Its final NHL game was played May 27, 1995.
Chris Chelios scored the arena's last NHL goal in overtime as the
Chicago Blackhawks eliminated the Canucks in the conference quarterfinals.
Roman Oksiuta scored the last Canucks goal.
The 1982 and 1994 Stanley Cup Finals featured games at the Coliseum. On
May 16,
1982, the
New York Islanders beat the Canucks 3–1 and were awarded the Stanley Cup on Coliseum ice. On
June 11, 1994, the
New York Rangers and Vancouver Canucks met at the Coliseum in Game 6 of the
Stanley Cup Finals.
Jeff Brown and
Geoff Courtnall each scored twice as the Canucks won the game 4–1 to even the series at three games apiece. However, they lost the series to New York by a 3–2 score in Game 7. Canucks owner
Arthur Griffiths called it "the greatest game ever played at Pacific Coliseum." The Coliseum also hosted the
1977 NHL All-Star Game.
The Coliseum hosted Game 4 of the 1972
Summit Series on September 8, with the
U.S.S.R. beating
Canada 5–3. In a famous post-game interview,
Phil Esposito gave an emotional response to the booing of the crowd that was broadcast on national television.
The Pacific Colisieum also played host to the
2006 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships and the arena was used for the
Madison Square Garden scene in the movie
Miracle
.
Memorial Cups
The Coliseum has hosted two
Memorial Cup tournaments. The first tournament was held in
1977 when
Stan Smyl and the
New Westminster Bruins won their first Memorial Cup championship by defeating the
Ottawa 67's, 6–5. Smyl would eventually have a successful 13 year NHL career playing with the Vancouver Canucks and at the Coliseum. In addition, his #12 was retired by the Canucks on November 3, 1991 at the Coliseum, where it hung in the rafters until being moved to
General Motors Place in 1995.
In
2006, the Giants were chosen to host the
2007 Memorial Cup Tournament from May 18–27. During this tournament the Coliseum surpassed the all-time Memorial Cup attendance record after only seven round-robin games with 91,808, and would eventually finish with a total attendance of 121,461. In the same tournament, the Vancouver Giants won the
Memorial Cup championship by defeating the
Medicine Hat Tigers, 3–1.
The Coliseum has also played host to World Wrestling Entertainment's weekly live television brodcast of Monday Night Raw, as well as the now defunct World Championship Wrestling's "New Blood Rising" pay per view.
References
- http://www.vancouver2010.com/en/WinterGames/2010GamesVenues/Competition/PC 2010 Games Venues