BRACEBRIDGE HOCKEY MECCA ENDS IN BLOCKS OF RUBBLE — BUT LEAVES PILES OF CHERISHED MEMORIES
Mark Clairmont | MuskokaTODAY.com
BRACEBRIDGE — A sad day — weeks — as 75 years of hockey history is ending here on James Street with the demolition of the Bracebridge Memorial Arena.
“The rink” as its best known, is but a pile of cinder blocks today with the original east end ice sheet reduced to rubble. It’s front end façade next awaiting the long arm reach of yellow excavator that blows the overtime final whistle and sounds that final buzzer on decades of shinny, skating and other winning and losing performances.
Amid it’s demise are cherished memories and championship.
If you had squinted inside the back door off Hiram Street, you could’ve caught the far hint of blue bleachers that saw fans look over the net on the little ice sheet at the west end where future NHL great Roger Crozier miraculously tended goal leading to the 1954-55 Bantam All-Ontario championship.
A glint of bursting yellow lower bowl seats stands out.
Aside from that all that which was left Tuesday afternoon was rubble — some of it surprisingly still good-looking and usable cement block strong three-quarters of a century after being first laid in 1949 by post Second World War veterans returning home to rebuild their hometown.
A walk around the rink and you could also still catch a glimpse of the distinctive blue and white north wall (backing on to Ann Street) with its bright set of red doors still in place as if waiting for an exiting crowd.
An apt metaphor as the sun set on a gorgeous day and the end of a storied past. And as kids yelled and screamed next door having fun on the skateboard park along what was once Jane Street before being renamed briefly as Chubb Downey Way in memory of a brilliant hockey coach. If only they could skate there in winter with a sheath of ice on it. How cool would that be as a legacy.
For who knows what beholds the soon to be empty massive block of space with a small parking lot at the south end. Housing, retail, commercial …? A park?
No doubt a few people have noticed this most recent demolition of history as they traverse the busy north-south street parallel alternative route bypassing Manitoba Street.
But just a block off the main street the Memorial Arena was more than hockey players, figure skaters, wrestlers, concerts and roller skaters to name but barely a few sporting and public events.
It was a community and social hub for residents and visitors who got to sit so close to the smaller-than-average ice surface and see the whites of the players’ eyes. And hear them breathing, crying and their sometimes colourful language.
Its downfall is a loss. A Bracebridge tragedy that has befallen the town — the downtown especially — even given an engorged new by comparison hockey-unfriendly and sporting venue a kilometre “down” the other side of town.
Yet another example of municipalities with plans, but no vision.
It’s a repeated fate that had decades ago befallen the old curling club, which was once across the street and that shared dominance as winter meccas for those who threw stones or shot pucks.
Great curlers, hockey players and figure skater are now but memories on that fabled stretch of street. Along with a host of Bracebridge community characters who passed through their doors and can’t — and shouldn’t — be forgotten.
Take a drive by today if you want to catch the sun setting on Muskoka history.
Because a decade from now it’s likely the adjacent South Muskoka Memorial Hospital will be next on the neighbourhood chopping block.
So long, Roger. Adieu Ace Bailey. We loved you. Thanks for the memories and championships.
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