Buccaneer Arena is a 3,461-seat, with standing room for an additional 700, multi-purpose arena in

Urbandale, Iowa Urbandale is a city in Polk and Dallas counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. As of the 2020 census, the city population was 45,580. It is part of the Des Moines– West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area. History Urbandale was incorporat ...

, that is home to the

Des Moines Buccaneers The Des Moines Buccaneers are a Tier I junior ice hockey team in the United States Hockey League (USHL). The team has played in the Western Conference since the 2009–10 season. History The Buccaneers began USHL play during the 1980–81 sea ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

team in the

United States Hockey League The United States Hockey League (USHL) is the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. The league consists of 16 active teams located in the Midwestern United States and Great Plains, for players between the ages of 16 and 21. Th ...

. Before the Bucs began playing in 1980, the International Hockey League's Des Moines Oak Leafs and

Des Moines Capitols The Des Moines Capitols, were a minor league professional ice hockey team in Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Iowa, most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is the ...

franchise played here.

Building history

The arena opened on November 12, 1961 as the Des Moines Ice Arena. It was later renamed the Metro Ice Sports Arena before becoming Buccaneer Arena in mid-2004. On September 22, 2005, Buccaneer Arena was renamed 95-KGGO Arena after

Citadel Broadcasting Citadel Broadcasting Corporation was a Las Vegas, Nevada-based broadcast holding company founded and developed by Larry Wilson. Citadel owned 243 radio stations across the United States and was the third-largest radio station owner in the count ...

, owners of

radio station Radio broadcasting is the broadcasting of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based rad ...

KGGO, purchased the

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

to the arena. It is nicknamed the "Madhouse on Hickman" for its location on Hickman Road. In 2008, the arena changed its name back to Buccaneer Arena. In 2020, the arena's roof was damaged during the

August 2020 Midwest derecho On August 10 and 11, 2020, an extremely powerful progressive derecho devastated much of the Midwestern United States, primarily eastern Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, and Indiana. It caused high winds and spawned an outbreak of weak torna ...

Tenants

The arena served as home ice for the Des Moines Buccaneers' ten championship seasons in the 1990s: Anderson Cup regular season champions in 1993–94, 1994–95, 1997–98, 1998–99; Clark Cup playoff champions in 1992, 1995, 1999, 2006; and Gold Cup Junior A champions in 1992, 1995, 1998. Following the damage to the roof in 2020, the team was forced to start the 2020–21 season at Wells Fargo Arena in downtown Des Moines. In November 2020, the team announced it would be replacing the old arena as part of a project to turn the former

Younkers Younkers Inc. () is an American online retailer and former department store chain founded as a family-run dry goods business in 1856 in Keokuk, Iowa. The retailer had evolved over more than 150 years to include a presence in locations throughout ...

department store location in Merle Hay Mall into a new 3,500-seat, $59 million arena. Buccaneer Arena completed repairs in January 2021, and plans to build the new hockey arena within the mall would fall through in July of 2024 due to the team's lease expiring. Mall officials have also stated they will continue to build the new venue and are open to renegotiating their lease with the team as well. In August 2024, the Buccaneers announced they would temporarily move to the MidAmerican Energy Co. Recplex located in West Des Moines for the 2024-25 USHL season due to a mechanical issue that would delay the arena's ability to make ice prior to the team's season opening game the following month. In the same statement, team officials also proclaimed they would continue to make the arena operational again until "it is no longer sustainable to do." In 2007, the arena hosted the

College Hockey America College Hockey America (CHA) was a college ice hockey conference in the United States. It participated in the NCAA's Division I as a hockey-only conference. The conference's final membership featured six women's teams, with three in Pennsylvani ...

championship tournament. The arena has also hosted mixed martial arts. It is also where the Paul Robidoux got his start as the worlds premier intermission announcer.

References

External links

Des Moines Buccaneers
official website
RinkAtlas listing for Buccaneer Arena

Buccaneer Arena seating chart
Ice hockey venues in Iowa Sports in Des Moines, Iowa Sports venues in Greater Des Moines Buildings and structures in Polk County, Iowa Tourist attractions in Polk County, Iowa Urbandale, Iowa 1961 establishments in Iowa Sports venues completed in 1961 {{Iowa-stadium-stub

Building history

Tenants

References

Further reading

External links