Amherstburg Arena (209 Victora St. S., Amherstburg, Ontario)

Recollections (Mid 1990s to Early 2000s)

From the middle of the 1990s through to the early 2000s, I frequently visited the now-demolished arena at 209 Victoria St. S. in Amherstburg, Ontario.

This is approximately how I recall it being laid out at that time:

The original part of the arena, containing the rink at the north and a lobby area at the south, had a rectangular floorplan. A high peaked roof spanned the building, with the ridge running north-south. The roof was supported on the inside by what appeared to be large glulam-like rafters.

In the mid-1990s, an addition was added at the south-east corner and along the east exterior wall of the existing building. This extended the lobby, added a new main entrance, and added four new dressing rooms.

Prior to the addition in the mid-1990s, the main entrance was on the south wall, about a third of the way in from the west side. Once the addition was added, the main entrance was then near the south-east corner of the building.

I recall there being a small foyer area between the exterior doors and another set of doors leading to the interior. I believe there was a payphone within this foyer.

Once inside the arena’s lobby area, there was a small pro shop to the west that offered skate sharpening and some sports equipment for sale, and an open area to the north. During some hockey games, such as those of the youth travel teams, a small admission fee would be collected in this area.

The flooring of the lobby area was made of a rubbery material that wouldn’t damage sharpened skate blades. It was also a heated area, separated from the colder ice rink area by doors.

I think there were some rooms along the east wall of the lobby. I recall one of these rooms being used as the dressing room for the hockey on-ice officials. The other rooms may have been used for storage or office purposes. There was also a drinking water fountain along that wall.

Along the north wall of this part of the lobby, straight ahead of the main entrance, was the doorway to a long north-south hallway connecting to the four dressing rooms along the east side of the arena that were added in the mid-1990s.

The original lobby, running east-west along the entire south end of the ice, extended to the west from the open lobby area just north of the main entrance.

There was a doorway connecting the larger lobby area to the south-east corner of the ice rink area. During hockey games and practices, this doorway would typically be used by the team that was using one of the southernmost two dressing rooms to access the ice rink. The players would have to exit from the dressing room hallway into the lobby area, and then cut along the lobby’s north wall to this entrance to the ice area. The on-ice officials would also use this doorway to access the ice, and spectators could use it to access the seating along the east side of the rink.

The glass and boards along the south end of the ice rink directly formed the north wall of the lobby area, without any walkway in between. I believe there was a raised wheelchair-accessible viewing area within the lobby, near the south-east corner of the ice area. On-ice activities could be watched from the lobby.

Along the south wall of the lobby, near the south-east corner of the rink area, were some trophy cases. West of those, there were the entrances to the men’s and women’s public washrooms. Farther west along the wall, roughly in line with the middle of the south end of the rink, were some pop vending machines, and then the arena’s concession stand was west of those.

The concession stand was typically open during youth travel hockey games. It served food typical of arenas at the time (hot dogs, fries, nachos and cheese, pretzels, soft drinks, coffee, hot chocolate, chips, chocolate bars, packaged candy, etc.).

Past the concession stand was a short hallway leading south to the pre-addition main entrance. At the north-west corner of the lobby area was another doorway leading to the rink area, including the spectator seating along the west side.

To the south of the west spectator seating area (the south-west corner of the building) were a couple of small, older dressing rooms. Each had a small washroom area next to the entry door. There were continuous (i.e., not divided into stalls) benches along the east, south, and west walls, and I believe also along the portion of the north wall south of the washroom area. There were metal hooks on the walls above the benches, for hanging hockey jerseys and other equipment.

I recall these smaller dressing rooms being used during the hockey schools that were held at the arena, and also by some female players who were playing in the predominantly-male youth hockey games. I don’t remember them being used for hockey games beyond the “novice” level.

The west seating area was made of large concrete steps running north-south between the west wall of the arena and the west rink boards. Stairs led up to a walkway running along the top of the seating areas. I recall there being waist-high barriers made out of metal bars running along the rink-facing sides of the walkways, allowing some spectators to stand and watch from behind the top row of seats.

Stairways periodically led down from the upper walkway toward the rink, allowing access to the rows of seats. The seats themselves were just continuous plastic benches running north-south, along the edges of the large concrete steps that formed the seating area. I believe there were perhaps four to six rows of seats.

There was similar seating along the east side of the rink, as well. During youth hockey games, the spectators would primarily sit in the seats along the west side of the rink, which weren’t interrupted by the benches, penalty box, and the access way to the ice from the newer dressing rooms that were found among the east seating area.

There were some heaters suspended from the ceiling above the seats, at least along the west seating area, that would provide a small amount of warmth to the spectators.

The ice resurfacer was stored at the north end of the arena, with a large door leading north to the outside parking lot area north of the arena, and south to the rink. The resurfacer would access the ice through large swinging doors in the boards at the north end of the rink. Snow from the resurfacer would be dumped onto the parking lot at the north end of the arena. I recall a Zamboni-branded ice resurfacer being used, rather than the Olympia-branded machines that were sometimes used in other local arenas.

I believe the rink’s refrigeration equipment was at the north-west corner of the building.

I’m not sure about the dimensions of the ice rink. It was probably a typical NHL-sized rink. I don’t recall it seeming too different than the rinks in similarly-aged arenas in Harrow, Essex, LaSalle, and so forth.

The quality of the ice generally seemed comparable to other indoor rinks in the area, too, aside from Windsor Arena. The few times I skated on the ice at Windsor Arena (when the Windsor Spitfires were still playing there), it seemed noticeably better than the ice in the smaller local arenas.

A rope or metal cable ran east-west over the north end zone of the rink, I think somewhere in the area between the face-off circles and the blue line. I don’t remember seeing it being used, but my understanding is that the figure skaters could tether themselves to it somehow, to avoid falls when learning or practicing certain moves. The ice in this area sometimes had divots, or was rougher than in other areas.

I recall the ice being removed during the summer, when temperatures in Amherstburg can get quite hot. At one point, I remember watching as a spectator while the concrete surface was used for youth ball hockey, either on foot or on inline skates.

The hockey benches were along the east side of the rink. The “Home” bench was at the north, with the “Home” penalty box directly south of that. The scorekeeper’s booth was near the centre red line, and it separated the “Home” and “Visitors” penalty boxes. The scorekeeper’s booth was enclosed, and I think it was connected with one or both of the penalty boxes. There was a door in the rink boards south of the “Visitors” penalty box, and then the “Visitors” bench was south of that.

The door in the boards between the “Visitors” penalty box and bench connected to a gap within the east seating area, and this access way connected to a door leading to the four dressing rooms that were added to the side east of the building in the mid-1990s.

A straight hallway ran north-south through the newer dressing room area, starting from a door connecting to the lobby in the south, and ending at a hallway that ran to the west, leading to a door that connected to the gap between the seating area on the east side of the rink (and in turn to the door in the rink boards between the “Visitors” penalty box and bench).

There were two rectangular dressing rooms on the west side of the hall, and two rectangular dressing rooms on the east. Each side had one dressing room at the north, and another at the south, with a shared washroom area linking the two. Continuous beige wooden benches ran along most of the wall space, with hooks a few feet above those for hanging hockey jerseys and equipment. There were simple hockey stick racks near the doors that connected the dressing rooms to the hallway.

The dressing rooms themselves were in quite good condition, since they were relatively new. I remember them being larger and nicer than the dressing rooms in the arenas in Harrow, LaSalle, and Essex at the time, for example.

The teams using the two northernmost dressing rooms would typically access the ice via the hallway leading west from the north end of the hallway, and the door in the boards near the centre of the rink. The teams in the south dressing rooms would have to pass through the lobby, and then access the ice via the door in the boards near the south-east corner of the rink.

Above much of the lobby, on the second storey, was an open room with tall, narrow, rectangular windows overlooking the ice to the north, and the parking lot to the south. There may have been a small kitchenette along the east wall of this upstairs area.

I primarily saw the second storey area used for hockey school activities, and sometimes when hockey individual/team photos were taken. I believe it could be rented by the public for events, but I don’t remember ever attending any that were held there.

There was a stairway connecting the lobby and the west side of the second storey near the old main entrance hallway west of the concession stand, and another stairway on the east end, connecting to or near the foyer of the mid-1990s addition. Both had emergency doors along the south wall leading outside, I believe.

In the rink area, there were advertisement panels that hung down from the ceiling above the east seating section, and that were clearly visible to the spectators who were seating on the west side of the rink. Hockey championship banners were hung on the interior south wall, around the second storey windows. The bulk of these banners were simple in design, consisting of a black background and white text.

A relatively simple scoreboard was mounted to the north wall in the rink area, above the ice resurfacing machine doorway.

Other Information

There are some archived webpages from the Town of Amherstburg’s website about the arena:

There are some archived photographs of the arena, apparently from the early 2000s:

Looking north along the ice toward the interior of the north end, possibly taken through the glass from the lobby. The scoreboard is visible in the middle of the photo. The ice resurfacer would enter through a large doorway just below the scoreboard.
Looking east within the interior of the lobby at the south end, from approximately the middle of it, between the windows looking onto the ice (to the left) and the concession stand (to the right). The washrooms were located between the pop machines and the trophy case near the centre of the photo.
Looking north-west toward the exterior of the south end, from the parking lot. The newer main entrance is at the right, under the overhand with the two cylindrical pillars. The secondary entrance (the main entrance prior to the mid-1990s addition) is toward the left. The tall rectangular windows were for the open area on the second storey, above the lobby.
On-ice youth hockey school activities. This seems to be looking toward the north-east corner of the ice. I recall the doorway in the wall near the centre of the photo leading to a storage room where hockey team jerseys and other equipment was stored.
On-ice youth hockey school activities. This appears to be the north end of the rink. The door the ice resurfacer would enter through is toward the left.
On-ice youth hockey school activities. Looking toward the north end of the east side of the rink, from near the south end of the west seating area. The north bench is visible near the top-middle of the photo, with the scorekeeper’s booth at the top-right corner.
On-ice youth hockey school activities. Looking toward the north-east corner of the rink.
On-ice youth hockey school activities. Along either the east or west side of the rink.
Lobby area north of the main entrance. The doorway at the right of the photo led to the four dressing rooms added in the mid-1990s.

There are some photos from other sources showing the arena:

There are some videos that include footage taken inside the arena in 2010:

The arena was built in 1970 according to this webpage on the Town’s website.

The arena seemed to be referred to by various names, including:

The arena was demolished in 2017. There are some articles about the demolition:

There are some by-law documents pertaining to the arena:

There are some council minutes and committee minutes documents pertaining to the arena:

The ‘Community extends its gratitude to “Coach Dan”’ article references a number of people who were heavily involved with the operation of the arena and/or the activities held at it.

Google Street View imagery from July 2009, June 2012, and May 2014 showed the arena from Victoria St., before it was demolished. The June 2025 imagery showed the site of the demolished arena as an open grass field, although some of the parking lot still seemed to remain and be usable.