Mount Royal Arena

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The Mount Royal Arena was an indoor arena located in Montreal, Canada. It was home of the National Hockey League Montreal Canadiens (Habs) from 1920 to 1926, and the Montreal Maroons in 1924, before the Montreal Forum was built. It had a capacity of 6000 seated, 10,000 when including standing room. It was a natural ice rink without artificial ice machines.

It opened partly unfinished on January 10, 1920 for a game between the Canadiens and Toronto,^[1] won by Montreal 14-7. A week later, parts of a balcony broke before a game with Ottawa, and police stopped sales at 6500.^[2] The rink had been built quickly to house the Canadiens who had lost their arena, Jubilee Arena to fire in 1919.

The Canadiens eventually moved from the arena because of its uneven natural ice surface. The team wanted an artificial ice surface, but never was able to get one in this rink, as owner Thomas Duggan concentrated on getting American franchises into the NHL rather than fulfilling his statements that he would bring artificial ice to the arena.

After the Habs left, the arena was converted into a commercial building. On February 29, 2000, it was destroyed by fire. A Provigo supermarket now stands on the arena's former site.

[edit] References

^ Coleman, Charles (1966). The Trail of the Stanley Cup, vol. 1, 1893-1926 inc, pg. 366.
^ Coleman, Charles (1966). The Trail of the Stanley Cup, vol. 1, 1893-1926 inc, pg. 366.