The North Bay Memorial Gardens is an

arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

located in North Bay,

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

. It was built in 1955 and has a capacity of 4,246. The Gardens hosted the

North Bay Centennials The North Bay Centennials were a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League, who played from 1982–2002. The team was based in North Bay, Ontario. History The North Bay Centennials or "Cents" as they were popularly known, were named afte ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

team from 1982 to 2002, before they moved to

Saginaw Saginaw () is a city in the U.S. state of Michigan and the seat of Saginaw County. The city of Saginaw and Saginaw County are both in the area known as Mid-Michigan. Saginaw is adjacent to Saginaw Charter Township and considered part of Greater ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

. The arena's primary tenants today are the

North Bay Battalion The North Bay Battalion is a junior ice hockey team in the Ontario Hockey League based in North Bay, Ontario, Canada. The franchise was founded as the Brampton Battalion on December 3, 1996, and began play in 1998 1998 was designated as ...

of the OHL and the Nipissing Lakers men's ice hockey team of the

OUA Oua is an islet on the north-east of Nukufetau atoll, Tuvalu, next to Lafanga Lafanga or Lafaga is an islet of Nukufetau, Tuvalu. The traditional history of Nukufetau recalls that in order to protect the atoll from raiders from Tonga Tong ...

. In 2007 Memorial Gardens played host to the Atlanta Thrashers and New York Islanders for a pre-season game after the city of North Bay was crowned as Hockeyville. The City and the Committee that brought Hockeyville to North Bay used the prize money to put up a new electronic rink sign. The arena underwent a $12 million renovation for the new OHL franchise, the

's arrival for the 2013–2014 season, also signing a 15-year lease with the arena. As part of the renovations, the

seating capacity Seating capacity is the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, in terms of both the physical space available, and limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that ...

was increased, the ice surface was reconfigured to new OHL standards, 10 private boxes were added as well as a new 2-level team dressing room. The renovations were first $600,000 over budget even though promises were made to cut the renovations if it went over the $12 million mark by local government who ended up making special funds out of reserve to pay the cost overruns. Six weeks later a further $4.5 million was announced as spent on the project without the knowledge of local government from city taxpayers accounts, with an audit being called that later revealed little paper work and no communication of costs were done on the city's largest municipal project. It hosted the 2013 World Ringette Championships as well as the 2018 Ford World Women's Curling Championship.

References

External links

North Bay Memorial Gardens - City of North Bay
Indoor arenas in Ontario Indoor ice hockey venues in Canada Sports venues in Ontario Ontario Hockey League arenas Buildings and structures in North Bay, Ontario Sport in North Bay, Ontario {{canada-icehockey-venue-stub