The Shiretown Blogger: The Shiretown Blogger vists the oldest indoor arena in the province

Fredericton, New Brunswick is much more than the province's capital city. In fact, the city is home to the oldest indoor arena in New Brunswick.

The York Arena, located on Barker Street on the north side of Fredericton, was built in 1947, making it the first indoor arena in the province, and the oldest indoor arena in the province that is still in continuous use.

City of Fredericton Image

In its heyday, fans would pack the York Arena for many hockey games and even boxing events. Bulletin boards covered with black and white photos from days gone by line the walls of the hallway which serves as the arena's entrance.

Some of them include photos of Willie O'Ree, who was born and raised in Fredericton and is a product of Fredericton's minor hockey system. In 1958, he became the first black hockey player to play in the National Hockey League. O'Ree is still going strong in his seventies, as he now works for the NHL's development program. A beautiful new arena complex which was built around 2008 now stands on Fredericton's north side, and bears Willie O'Ree's name.

Photos of Willie O'Ree (left), who has roots in Fredericton and was the first black player in the NHL, are on display at the York Arena.

Other products of Fredericton's minor hockey program who would play in the NHL are Danny Grant and the late Buster Harvey. They both played in the York Arena at one time or another, and black and white photos of both Grant and Harvey hang proudly on the bulletin board in the York Arena.

Danny Grant, left, and Buster Harvey's photos on display.

In recent years, as Fredericton has become home to more modern arena complexes, use of the York Arena has declined. Currently, an arena named after Grant and Harvey is under construction in the Kimble Drive area on the south side of the city. The York Arena was slated for closure, and the large, new Grant-Harvey complex would replace the 64-year-old York Arena. Many have lobbied to save the York Arena, and Fredericton city council recently decided to keep the doors open at the York Arena for up to another five years, on condition that it continues to remain viable. What will happen at the end of the next half decade remains to be seen.

Evidently, the City of Fredericton has made great effort and spent a large sum of money to keep the York Arena well-maintained. My previous expectation was that the arena's interior would reflect the age of the structure, but I was amazed when I darkened the doors of the York Arena. The moment I opened the door, the smell that came upon me was that of an old arena. The facility was a beautiful one, unlike many arenas of similar age and design. The majority of the floors were clean, and the walls did not show any scars from black pucks being shot at them—a sign that the rule of no shooting of any objects in the hallways is a well-enforced rule. After the rink's maintenance employees finished flooding the ice before my brother's hockey game, I was sure to tell them that they were doing a good job keeping their facilities clean and in tip-top shape. It speaks volumes when an arena that is over six decades old is kept cleaner than the sixteen-year-old civic centre which serves the greater Woodstock area.

Many kids actually enjoy playing in old arenas similar to the York Arena. The scoreboard which hangs just over the entrance is low enough to walk under, and the bleachers are wooden, unlike the hard plastic chairs which dominate many modern facilities. Boxes hung every so often on the steel posts at the top of the bleachers. When I took a closer look, I discovered that they were coin-operated heater systems. One dollar could buy cold spectators fifteen minutes of heat from three overhead heaters. Arenas with little to no heat and wooden bleachers are testaments of the hockey that many grew up with, and the older arenas are the way hockey still should be.

The scoreboard at the York Arena is so low you can almost stand under it.

The machines which take coins from chilly spectators wanting to warm up.

The sign says it all. Chilly spectators wanting to warm up can insert one dollar into the machine and receive heat from three heaters for a 15-minute duration.