| Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex | |
|---|---|
| The Aud | |
| Location | Kitchener, Ontario |
| Broke ground | 1950 |
| Opened | May 24, 1951 |
| Owner | City of Kitchener |
| Operator | City of Kitchener |
| Surface | Ice |
| Capacity | 6,268 (Ice hockey seated) 6,900 (with standing) 6,312 (Basketball) |
| Tenants | |
| Kitchener Rangers (OHL) (1961-present) Kitchener Dutchmen (GOJHL) |
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The Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex is a multi-use municipally-owned facility in Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. The complex is located on East Avenue, near the Ottawa Street interchange on the Conestoga Parkway. The complex includes "The Kitchener Memorial Audiorium" with the Dom Cardillo Arena, two smaller community arenas the Kinsmen Arena and Kiwanis Arena, the Jack Couch Stadium baseball park, Centennial Stadium (track and field, soccer / football) and a skatepark outside the stadium.
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The Kitchener Memorial Audiorium or The Aud for short, includes a main ice rink (the Dom Cardillo Arena) with a seating capacity of 6,268 and has a total capacity of 6,900 including standing room. It is home to the Kitchener Rangers, of the Ontario Hockey League.
The original arena was built in 1950 and has been expanded three times since then.
The Aud hosted the 2008 Memorial Cup from May 16 to May 25, 2008, with 437 additional permanent seats being added. The Aud previously hosted 1962 Memorial Cup, 1975 Memorial Cup and 1984 Memorial Cup games.
Other notable junior ice hockey events include the 1995 and 2003 CHL Top Prospects Game, the 1980, 1985, 1995 Ontario Hockey League All-star games, and the 1986 IIHF World U20 Championship. During the 1986 tournament, Canada defeated West Germany 18-2 at The Aud, setting a record for most goals for, and largest margin of victory by the Canada national junior hockey team at the tournament.[1]
The facility has also hosted major events including concerts by Led Zeppelin, KISS, Bob Dylan, Elton John, WCW Monday Nitro, Backstreet Boys, Michael Bublé, Hilary Duff; the Scott Tournament of Hearts, Four Nations Cup, Homesense Skate Canada International, the World Junior Figure Skating Championships and more!
| Centennial Stadium | |
|---|---|
| Location | Kitchener, Ontario, Canada |
| Opened | 1967 |
| Owner | City of Kitchener |
| Surface | Grass |
| Capacity | 3200 |
Centennial Stadium is a lighted football/soccer stadium next to The Aud. The stadium seats 3200 spectators and is the largest football stadium in Kitchener.
The stadium is additionally noteworthy for its location with easy highway access from Waterloo, Guelph, and Cambridge and its track and field facilities.
| Jack Couch Stadium | |
|---|---|
| Location | Kitchener, Ontario, Canada |
| Opened | 1967 |
| Owner | City of Kitchener |
| Surface | Grass |
| Capacity | 1,400 |
| Tenants | |
| Kitchener Panthers (IBL) | |
Jack Couch Stadium is home to the Kitchener Panthers of the Intercounty Baseball League. The stadium is outdoors with a grass field, and seating for 1,400 spectators.
Kitchener Rangers president Steve Bienkowski has stated that the Rangers have begun the process of researching a new arena. The Rangers have sold out almost every game for the past 3 years, and the waiting list for season tickets has been well over the cap of 4,750. The Rangers would like a building with at least 10,000 seats.
More recently, Bienkowski presented the City of Kitchener council a report on expanding the Aud. The expansion would include another level of seating as well as an expanded concourse. The expansion would add 3,500 seats to the facility to make total seating capacity around 10,500. The estimated cost would be $44 million. This is the favoured route for the team, as a new arena with a larger seating capacity (about 10,000) would cost an estimated $150 million. City council has made it clear they would not finance such a large project unless private companies were adding money to it. Council has been very favourable at the idea of expanding the city owned building. The plan includes raising the roof on the building. This has been done before, with the Buffalo Memorial Auditorium back in the early 1970s.
Bienkowski and the city have come to an agreement, if approved, that would see the auditorium expanded by 1,000 seats. There would also be a concourse on the third level. The expected cost for this expansion would be roughly $9 million, with the Kitchener Rangers Hockey Club paying for it, via a loan from the City of Kitchener. Work would be expected to begin by February 2012 and be finished November 2012. Seating capacity would be 7,268 seats and 7,800 with standing room.
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