If you grew up in Canada there was a better than average chance you spent some time at the local hockey rink as a player, coach or a fan.
Terry Stone spent the last 33 years working at the Red Deer Arena, retiring from his job basically at the same time the old rink was retiring from active duty.
He saw the last round of renos on the building but also witnessed many a change in the ways things were done to the ice, including the logos which decorated the surface.
“ Before they got stencils and before they got a sort of made up logo that you could just put on the ice and flood over, we used to have to do that sort of thing which an old fashioned way which was a piece of brown paper with holes in it,” he said. “You would put that down where you wanted it and then you would put chalk on it and then you would take a broom or something and you would pounce it. They called it pouncing.”
It’s those types of memories which bring the building to life during it’s time and to live afterwards long after it’s gone.
“The way they were built,” said Scott Robinson, former RDC King and Midget AAA coach. “They were mostly wood and they were such unique structures in their time. I think some of the old buildings, they just have that smell and that feel of history.”
“A lot of early mornings with practices but there’s no question Red Deer is definitely a hockey hotbed and I’m glad to be small part of it, “said Tom Bast.
Mike Moller enjoyed an amateur career on the ice at the Red Deer Arena and he says moving forward the new building will begin its own timeline for a legacy.
“We’re going to create some new memories, some new traditions and for a lot of people coming up that maybe didn’t have the chance to experience all the years that we did, it’s going to be a great opportunity to do that in the new building,” he said.
Former Rustler goalie Graham Parsons recalls winning a championship in that building with the home team but also saw it from the other side.
“When I first started I was playing for the Ponoka Stampeders and we came in against the Red Deer Rustlers and we had a real rivalry,” he said. “There were fights in the stands. Old time hockey.”
Andy Odenbach had a front row seat for some of those fierce rivalries over the years. He’s been wearing the referee stripes for about 50 years now and saw plenty of things over the years including a game against a Russian team where the goalie had his neck sliced open by a skate. And then there were the intense games where things got slightly out of hand sometimes in the 80’s.
“I think I set a record for penalty minutes between the Red Deer Rustlers and the Hobbema Hawks at that time. I’m not sure if that on stands,” he said. “Then I did a Calgary Canucks and Red Deer game and at the final horn the benches emptied and we had a big, massive horseshoe from one red line to the other around one end.”
So the clock has started ticking towards the new arena being built and it will be a far cry from what has stood on this site for decades.
Bucket seats for the fans and shirt sleeve temperatures as you watch the game are some of the terrific features coming our way. The money, around $21 million, is already in the bank and the deadline is for completion in 2018.
“This is about quality of life,” said Shelley Gagnon with the City of Red Deer. “It’s the arenas of our communities, it’s the swimming pools of our communities that bring people together. It’s what builds communities. It’s what builds relationships. It’s money for sure but it’s money well spent and an investment in our children.”
For Terry Stone it was time to say adios to the building which has been his home for three decades but he says he would do it all again in a heartbeat.
ime to call it a day. Go down with the ship as they say.”“I don’t think I could have picked a better time to retire. If I had stayed another year I probably would have worked another year,” he said. “It’s been my home so it’s a good t
So now the excitement builds for the new rink to go up on this history filled footprint but you have to believe the old memories will still share space in the new rink.
“The thread that ties us all together is that we’re Red Deer. We’re Central Alberta and a building is a building but it’s the people you meet along the way that create the memories of the building so it’s time and I can’t wait,” said Moller.
