Centennial Arenas now Flames Community Arenas    

Say goodbye to Calgary’s Centennial Arenas and say hello to Flames Community Arenas, as the home ice for the Mount Royal University Cougars men’s and women’s hockey teams has been renamed.

The new label for the arena came after a generous donation from the Calgary Flames Foundation for Life, the charitable arm of the Flames hockey club, which has donated millions of dollars to worthy causes throughout the city, with their latest donation benefiting a variety of user groups, including the Cougars hockey teams.

The expansion project, which broke ground in September 2009, is a $17-million development that looks to add a third rink to the existing two-rink facility to help alleviate a growing demand for ice time in the city.

Once the project is completed, there will be an extra 3,000 hours a year of ice time available to patrons throughout the city.

Calgary Flames president Ken King said the rink project was selected from among "thousands" of requests for help the Flames Foundation for Life receives each year.

“We receive thousands of requests per year, and we take those requests very seriously,” said King. “This one was brought forward to us and we thought it was a wonderful project, we wish we could do more, but we did feel as though we could make a meaningful contribution, and I think we have achieved that and are happy to do so.”

King says the project touched the organization at a grass roots level.

“Think of the kids and the hockey schools and the great demand for the sport, it’s something we are happy to support. We’ve been doing projects like this for 30 years, it’s not about optics, it’s about what we do, and giving back to the community, it’s what professional sports is really all about."

In addition to a third rink being added to the existing structure, plans for a fourth rink are somewhere in the near future,  including six new dressing rooms, a 200 seat viewing deck, new concessions and a pro-shop for hockey gear.

Formed in 1983, the South West Arena Society, which operates the Centennial Arenas, opened the duel rinks in 1986. The first phase of the project, including the completion of the third rink, is slated for spring 2011.

The seven other user groups involved in the South West Arenas Society expansion committee include:

Canadian Forces Calgary
Glenlake Minor Hockey Club
Elbow Park Group
Trails West Hockey Association
South Calgary Community Association
Lakeview Community Association
North Glenmore Park Community Association

For more information on the expansion project, please visit the Centennial Arenas Expansion Committee website.