The WHL Arena Guide - Prince George Coliseum, Prince George Cougars

The Victoria Cougars moved quickly and unexpectedly after twenty-five years as a WHL team on Vancouver Island, and countless more years in other leagues prior to that. A team called the Victoria Cougars even won the Stanley Cup in 1925. The team kept its identity moving to Prince George, but the move was so quick that they essentially wore leftover Victoria uniforms in 1994-95, their first season in the WHL. Construction on the team's new arena was immediately started, but the Multiplex wasn't able to open until the fall of 1995, so for the first season, they played in downtown Prince George at the old Coliseum.

Prince George Coliseum still stands in downtown PG and is still home to the BCHL's Spruce Kings, as it has been for decades. On the outside, it resembles nothing more than a concrete box with two massive roof trusses as the most distinguishable feature. But inside, it's a stunning modernist arena, with very few signs inside that it's no longer the 1950's. The lobby has an intact mid-century ticket window leading into the lobby, which itself has a single ramp leading up into the concourse at the top of six rows of seats.

Prince George has always been a lumber town, and the arena is built of wood. There's wood everywhere - painted wooden walls, wooden post and beam construction, polished parquet floors in the concourses, wooden bench seats, wooden boards. The ceiling is low and covered with a reflective cladding, but you can see the wood underneath at the seams. Between the steep seating and low ceiling, I'd bet the atmosphere for Spruce Kings games would be amazing.

The Coliseum was a one-year wonder for the WHL - the Multiplex opened in time for the Cougars' second season in PG. Even by the lower standards of the 90's, the Coliseum wouldn't have been suitable as anything more than a stopgap solution. But it's a gorgeous hockey rink, and I'm glad to have seen it.