The WHL Arena Guide - Medicine Hat Arena, Medicine Hat Tigers

I will be the first to admit that in the days before I really started exploring the WHL, I hadn't really kept up on my arena news from out west. I drove across the US and Canada in the summer of 2015, stopping here and there to see hockey rinks when it fit into the schedule, but with no particular intent, as a WHL Arena Guide was still a pipe dream when at that point I still hadn't even been to a WHL game. Shortly after lunch one August day when Mrs OHLAG and I cruised into Medicine Hat in search of the Arena, we found that a) the Medicine Hat Arena was closing imminently, and b) the season-ticket pickup happening that day was one of the last things that the Tigers would ever do there before moving across town to their new rink.

I felt incredibly lucky to have timed my visit so perfectly. I found a small, green-roofed and spartan arena located right on the banks of the South Saskatchewan River. The neighbourhood was on the fringe of downtown Medicine Hat, but felt downright residential.

The Arena had a small, low-slung lobby decked out in bright colours, and a narrow concourse under the seats complimented by another narrow concourse around the top of the seating area. I'm told the original arena seats were literally in a rainbow pattern, to the point the building was nicknamed 'The Smartie Box", but at the end of the arena's life they were all moulded plastic and teal. There was no video scoreboard. The ceiling was low, and the whole feel of the place was spartan - they'd already taken down all the team banners and such when I saw it, so I'm sure there was more Tigers stuff there when the team was resident, but I definitely felt like the place could have used a little more colour.

Seeing Medicine Hat Arena felt like taking a final walkthrough of a house after the owners have already moved out. It was sad to see it empty, but my goodness, am I ever glad I got to see it at all.