Haven't been here since I was a kid.
Wed, Jan 3rd, 2007
posted by Gordon Bombay

Every saturday evening from December to January, from 4th grade to 7th grade, my dad and I would leave straight from saturday evening mass to go to the skating rink here. You'd go in and take a seat on one of the old wooden benches around the huge fire place. Throw on your skates and go out onto the freezing rink. We'd skate from 6 to 9 o clock before going back to the fireplace and snack bar, drink hot chocolate and put quarters into the off road racing arcade game before heading home. I stopped playing hockey when I was 13. I stopped going to the ice rink when I was 16. I stopped going to church when I was 18. I'll always remember going to this place with my dad and the memories I had here. In January of 2007 I went back for the first time in 3 years. The off road game was smashed, the fire place filled with trash, the ice long gone, and the wooden roof slowly falling apart. We walked about the concrete floor stepping over the glass and trash that the city of Hamilton had dumped here. We glanced at the 1970's style hockey murals on the walls before we left. The next time I came back, the wooden rood had been demo'd onto what once was the ice rink. Today the tennis courts, basketball courts and a few other things still remain.