Canadian Tire Centre, home of the Ottawa Senators

On a warm afternoon in July, you don't have a sense of what this place is like in winter. The air is cold or at least crisp; the parking lot is full; it's bustling with activity; all of its restaurants are packed; and the Queensway (main highway through Ottawa) is backed up on game nights. But it isn't just in winter. As the largest multi-purpose indoor arena in Ottawa, it's also used year round for music concerts and other sporting events.

One of the newer Canadian meccas, er NHL arenas, it was built since I have been living here in Kanata (now an Ottawa suburb). I remember the politics and I worked with a city councillor who said there were 28 lawyers involved just in the land acquisitions. As is the case these days, environmentalists didn't want it built and this argument culminated in someone having to take a canoe down the nearby Carp river, more of a stream, to see if it was a navigable waterway. It wasn't, at least in the summer, and that made a big difference as to whether the Palladium was even built.

Did I say Palladium?

It opened in 1996 as the Palladium but then the era of name changes befell us. Within a week of Toronto's O'Keefe Centre becoming the Hummingbird Centre, Corel Corporation bought the name rights to the Palladium and it became the Corel Centre from 1996-2006. Then Scotia Bank decided to make it Scotiabank Place from 2006-20013. Finally, on July 1, 2013, it became the Canadian Tire Centre. So far, so good, as long as you can remember the most recent name.

The reason I called it a mecca is because it is home to the Ottawa Senators NHL hockey team. You either understand that or you don't - the Canadian love of hockey is certainly cultural. Either way, I wonder if I'm the only one who looks at the big Ottawa Senators "O" logo and sees a zero, "0." Then again, I'm a Montreal Canadiens fan.

Architectural Critique

Early on, I remember the local CBC radio station making the mistake of inviting an artist on their show to critique the Palladium's architecture. It started innocently enough. Obviously, the building is a certain shape to enclose the ice surface. The gentlement spoke of how it was meant to be viewed at night from close up. Yes, it is impressive at night with the light on. He spoke of the texture. See the beautiful texture in the brickwork below. However, I don't know what to think of the material at the top that looks like peach and grey painted corrugated steel.

Then the interview took another direction as he pointed out, quite rightly, that from a distance the arena resembled a huge water bowl and you half expected giant cows to saunter over to it. About then, the interviewer was in obvious distress wondering how to cut this short. I laughed because every weekday I drove along a nearby side road and saw the water bowl view. I guess that was too honest for the radio. What do you think?

This photo looks over the wetlands surrounding the Carp river. The arena really was built in a farm field and although other buildings have sprung up around it, you can't see any of them from here.

This last photo is the covered walkway in the parking lot but you won't need that. I live close enough that I provide concierge service to my out of town friends and family. Come and see a hockey game some time!

References

Canadian Tire Centre
Canadian Tire Centre - Wikipedia
Ottawa Senators - Wikipedia

Images

All photo from the iPad of @kansuze.

Enjoy!
@kansuze