A Home for Hockey: UBC Thunderbird Arena Is Complete

UBC Thunderbird Arena will stage those legendary battles for national pride that are sure to bring hockey fans to their feet during the 2010 Winter Games. The venue opened this week.

The Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games (VANOC) and the University of British Columbia (UBC), in partnership with the Government of Canada and the Province of British Columbia, announced Monday that construction of the UBC Thunderbird Arena is complete. The arena will host men’s and women’s ice hockey, as well as sledge hockey competitions during the 2010 Winter Games. It is the first indoor competition venue in the Host Region to complete construction.

“This beautiful new venue builds on a proud UBC and Vancouver Olympic hockey legacy,” said Professor Stephen J. Toope, president and vice-chancellor of UBC. “It was here in 1963 that Father David Bauer founded Canada’s first national Olympic hockey team with a nucleus of UBC players. I take pleasure in knowing that this will be a wonderful home for a new generation of competitive and recreational athletes — an exceptional facility for UBC athletes and for the entire community to use and enjoy.”

Construction on the UBC Thunderbird Arena began in April 2006, and involved refurbishing the Father Bauer Arena, built in 1963, and the construction of two new rinks: a practice rink and a 7,500-seat competition arena. Construction was completed on budget and four months ahead of its originally scheduled completion date.

Building the hockey community

Before the Games, the facility will become home to the UBC Thunderbirds’ varsity hockey program, student and staff programs, and community programs. The community can use the venue for hockey leagues, high school rentals, drop-in programs and other events. Hockey Canada will also use the facility as a pre- and post-Games training and event-hosting venue.

Following the Games, the venue will become a recreational and high-performance, multi-sport legacy facility, easily convertible for ice sledge hockey training and competitions. It can also be converted to a concert venue.

UBC Thunderbird Arena was developed by UBC Properties Trust and built by Bird Construction. It was designed to be highly accessible for athletes and spectators with a disability. The arena was also designed with careful attention to sustainability and energy conservation and is equivalent to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System silver rating standards. Some of the environmentally friendly features are the energy-efficient lighting and the Eco-Chill (cooling) system, which uses waste energy from ice cleaning to heat the building.

UBC sporting traditions

If UBC continues bounding down its long path of sporting excellence, the UBC Thunderbird Arena may very well become the training ground for future Olympians and Paralympians. UBC athletes have participated in the Olympic Games since the 1928 Games in Amsterdam, and at least 215 athletes, coaches and support staff from UBC have participated in the Olympic Games. Up to 25 athletes, coaches and support staff from UBC have participated in the Paralympic Games. UBC can also boast Canada’s largest intramural and recreation program and the most successful varsity sport program among Canada’s 52 participating universities. It’s one sport-driven campus.

Having some of hockey’s greatest legends on the ice at UBC Thunderbird Arena will no doubt leave another mark of excellence at the university and the surrounding community.