Denman Arena was home to first artificial artificial ice ice rink rink in Canada
Denman Arena was the showcase venue around which the Patrick brothers, Frank and Lester, constructed their West Coast hockey empire.
Built on the current site of Devonian Park on the northwest corner of Denman and Georgia Streets, it was the biggest artificial ice arena in Canada and one of the biggest in North America when it was opened in 1911.
Besides housing professional hockey — a new phenomenon on the West Coast back then — the 10,500-seat venue hosted opera singers, evangelists, politicians, boxing matches, ice shows and even public skating.
“It was a magnet for entertainment,” said hockey historian and Vancouver-based writer Craig Bowlsby. “It was probably the most important cultural centre in the city. If you look at the city at this time you see a big block of wood, you wonder what it’s doing there. It was used for everything.”
Tickets for the Stanley Cup final ranged from 50 cents to $1.50. An exorbitantly priced box seat was $14.
Denman Arena, a large wooden structure, burned down in 1936 — right after a crowd of 4,000 had come to the arena to see famed American boxer Max Baer fight Canadian James Walsh.
The Vancouver Sun reported that the fire “started mysteriously” at the nearby Fenner and Hood boatyard at Georgia and Gilford.
“Forks of flame enveloped structure after structure until finally the arena and (Denman) Auditorium fell prey,” the paper reported.
More facts, figures and stories about the Heritage Classic and its 1915 inspiration on Page A10.