Memorial Stadium (St. John's)

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Memorial Stadium" St. John's – news · newspapers · books · scholar · JSTOR (February 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

Memorial Stadium

Location	20 Lake Avenue, St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada
Owner	City of St. John's
Capacity	Hockey: 4,190
Construction
Broke ground	1952
Opened	1955
Closed	2001
Demolished	2006 (interior only)
Construction cost	$7,000,000
Tenants
St. John's Maple Leafs (AHL) (1991–2000)

Memorial Stadium was a 4,190-seat multi-purpose arena, in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. St. John's previous indoor arena, Prince's Rink, burned down in November 1941, but the demands of the Second World War prevented the city from replacing it until well after the war ended. In 1948, a Citizens' Committee was established to raise funds to build a new arena to be named in honour of Newfoundlanders who died in that war. Fundraising went slowly until in 1954, St. John's City Council floated a bond to finance the facility, which then became property of the city. It officially opened in 1955.^[1]

It is the former home of the St. John's Maple Leafs of the American Hockey League (1991–2001). The arena played host to many events, such as an exhibition game featuring the local senior hockey team, the St. John's Caps and the Soviet Red Army. It also played host to two NBA exhibition games and musical acts, as well as Pope John Paul II. Wooden bleachers were used throughout the building's earlier life, and plastic seats were installed later, towards the beginning of the arena’s AHL tenure. Memorial Stadium closed in 2001, replaced by Mary Brown’s Centre.