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Moncton Wildcats
Arena Name: Moncton Coliseum |
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| Moncton Coliseum |
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| What's the Arena Like? |
| I had tickets to a game at the Moncton Coliseum in March of 2006. I was flying down to the mainland for the weekend and planning to see the eventual QMJHL champs because I missed them coming to Newfoundland, PEI because I had never been to PEI at the time, and Halifax because they were closest to the airport. Three games in three days and then back to the Rock. A couple days before my flight left, I checked the QMJHL schedule again and somehow the game in Moncton had been moved to Bathurst. What? A little checking around determined for me that an RV show had booked into the Coliseum and somehow that took priority over a previously-scheduled hockey game in Hub City, so I rapidly re-arranged my travel plans and wound up unexpectedly in Bathurst two nights later, watching one of the best junior hockey games I have ever seen - a raucous, seesaw battle that the Titan pulled out by a 6-5 score with a Jordan Clendenning goal two minutes from the end of regulation being the difference. So, I've never been to a game at the Moncton Coliseum, although I have been there a couple of times while no games were being played. The arena is a sprawling, flat building that looks barely a storey high from the outside, with brown brick and a dark brown metal roof. The place is surrounded by parking lots and the Trans-Canada Highway runs right nearby, meaning that there is no convivial atmosphere, just a bland and tiny-looking 1970's edifice sitting matter-of-factly. Once inside, the place opens up quite a bit. There are meeting rooms and such on the premises, but the main seating bowl is the primary attraction. Most of the Moncton Coliseum was built underground, and so the tiny exterior hides a much larger interior. The place has a huge ring of green-blue seats surrounding the ice, with a second deck overlooking the first on the one side, much like at Centre 200. There is a large, six-sided video scoreboard in place that was installed for the 2006 Memorial Cup. The whole arena is very dark on the inside, with all of the structural steel and accents being painted a dark brown and blue. It feels a lot like the Bayshore in Owen Sound, featuring a dark, middle-aged interior in which wood grain and shag carpet wouldn't feel that out of place. I wasn't allowed to take pictures inside the Coliseum given that "we can't just have people taking pictures of the RV's", as the security guard put it. But no matter, the Coliseum is an interesting building, and I hope to get to a game there eventually. |
Future Developments |
| A lot of renovations were done to the Coliseum in the lead-up to the 2006 Memorial Cup, but as far as I know, they are all done with no new renovations planned. |
How To Get There |
| From the TCH: Exit at #446, Christie Rd./Berry Mills Rd. Proceed east into town. When you hit the overpass at NB-15 (Wheeler Dr.), Berry Mills becomes Killam Drive. The arena will be on your left. From NB-15: Exit at Killam Dr. and proceed east. The arena will be on your left. |
| Admission Prices |
| TBA |
| Inside Moncton Coliseum |
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| Franchise History |
| With the addition of the Halifax Mooseheads being a major success story for the QMJHL, the league in 1995 was eager to move into other former AHL markets in the Maritimes. Much like the Mooseheads, the Moncton Alpines were named for a brewery. Unlike the Mooseheads, they were a disaster, and many expected them to fold after only one year of operation. Instead, the team was bought by oil baron Robert K Irving, who built them into one of the powerhouses of the league. The team was renamed to the Wildcats for the 1996-97 season, as Irving wanted to give his team a fresh start and distance it from the disastrous first year. |
| Retired Numbers |
| None |
| Local Rivals |
| As the Hub of the Maritimes, Moncton is a short distance away from pretty much every other QMJHL team in the Atlantic provinces, but the rivalries with Bathurst, Halifax and PEI are all pretty good ones. The Sea Dogs should over time develop into more of a rival as well. |
Feedback |
If anything is incorrect or you have something to add, please e-mail me at  and I'll update the guide. |
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Copyright © Kevin Jordan
2002-07. |