The QMJHL Arena Guide - Arena Baribeau, Gatineau Olympiques

The widespread shutdown of sports across the country and around the world as a result of the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic was not something one would have predicted. I went to the penultimate London Knights game played in the 2019-20 season on March 6, 2020, and nine months later as of this writing, the OHL has not resumed. Of the three leagues that make up the CHL, only one resumed play in a bubble as of the traditional start of the 2020-21 season, and while it is debatable whether or not the QMJHL's resumption was a good thing or not, from the perspective of this website, the biggest news development is that the Gatineau Olympiques were rendered homeless.

Robert Guertin Centre was commandeered by the province to use as an emergency homeless shelter, with the Olympiques' resumption of play being understandably far down any list of priorities. With few other options and their new arena not finished, the Olympiques moved into the Baribeau Arena for 2020-21. I haven't been, but from pictures, Baribeau Arena looks no different from any other sheet of ice anywhere in Canada. There's an L-shaped bank of seating on the north and west sides of the ice, but given that team employees and scouts are the only ones allowed in anyway, that really doesn't matter that much.

I'll never see the Olympiques play at Baribeau Arena - when fans are permitted to return, the team will presumably be back at Guertin or their new arena - but at least we got one wacky new building out of the loss of junior hockey. I'm sure I miss it as much as all of my readers do, and we will all collectively welcome its return.