Many regular readers will already be aware of the work now underway to build an outdoor ice rink as part of Marion Dewar Plaza in front of Ottawa City Hall. This has come as welcome news to many Ottawans for a number of reasons: once finished, the rink will be easily accessible and obviously central; a perfect compliment to the “world’s biggest outdoor rink” just a block away under the Laurier bridge.
But if won’t be the first time the advantages of having a outdoor skating rink in the downtown core have occurred to City planners.
This is something that most Ottawa hockey historians likely already know. But given the fact that it’s not yet formally marked with any kind of plaque – at least not the last we checked – it might be easy for most of the rest of us to miss this detail of Ottawa’s athletic history.
Whilst checking out the fire insurance maps for Ottawa as published in 1902 and revised in 1912, one would notice an ice rink just across Laurier from the Drill Hall, where Confederation Park’s southeastern quarter is today. (the grey-shaded area in lower left of image – Ed. )This was the third rink built under the auspices of the Dey Brothers’ shipbuilding operation in Ottawa, and the second arena to house the team we know today as the original Ottawa Senators.
Back when it was built, it was the largest hockey-supporting ice rink in Canada. The Arena lasted twenty years, from 1907 to 1927. The Original Sens played there from 1908 to 1923, and those days were considered by many to be the heyday of that club: the transition from amateur to professional club via their membership in the National Hockey Association (forerunner to the NHL), the best days of players such as Fred “Cyclone” Taylor, Corb Dennehy, and Art Ross.
The Arena hosted two Stanley Cup challenges in 1910 and 1911 – back then teams challenged one another for the trophy – and a Stanley Cup final playoff series closer to the modern standard in 1920. The Original Sens won the Cup in all three of those seasons.
The Arena was demolished by federal authority in 1927 to make way for the beginnings of what’s now called the Queen Elizabeth Parkway.
And here’s an interesting sidebar: its direct predecessor? That was built directly across the Canal on the site of the present-day National Defence Headquarters Building.
One wonders if the brass have ever considered hiving off part of the grounds for a makeshift rink for the troops over the decades.
image: Library and Archives Canada
One comment
This reminds me of a story about Brian Kilrea, and another old outdoor rink near Confederation Park at Lisgar Collegiate.
Kilrea went to high school at Lisgar, and probably spent as much time playing on the outdoor rink there as he did attending classes.
One year he came back to school after summer vacation to discover the rink was no more — they built the school gym over top of hit. He quit school and went to work in his dad’s photography shop on Sparks Street.
Kilrea, as you probably know, went on to become the greatest junior hockey coach of all time and is a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame.