Northlands Coliseum—If You Build It, They Will Come

Most opening nights are grand affairs with pageantry, speeches, music and plenty of ceremony. However, fans coming to the November 10, 1974 opening—of then—Northlands Coliseum were greeted with the sounds and smells of a construction site. Paint was still being applied, seats were being bolted into place and generators were being set up so that some areas of the arena could have power.

Contractors had promised that the new Coliseum would be ready in time for the Oilers’ 1974-75 WHA season, but they were still working as the doors opened for the game against the Cleveland Crusaders.

The arena, built by a partnership between contractors Pat Bowlen—who now owns the Denver Broncos of the National Football League—and Peter Batoni would be a far cry from the old Edmonton Gardens; a 5,200 seat building that dated back to the days when it was simply called the Livestock Pavilion back in 1913.

The Coliseum was located across Northlands Park from the Edmonton Gardens.  By opening night, the dressing rooms were still undone in the new Coliseum. Forced to use the old dressing rooms at the Gardens, both teams took yellow school buses that dropped them off at the arena.

"A couple of hours before game time, they were making announcements on the P.A. for the fans to be careful as they sat down, because some of the seats may not be anchored like they should be," recalled Oilers back-up goalie Ken Brown. "There were no dressing rooms yet; all that was there on that opening night where the dressing rooms would be was the frames. There was no power or water there."

In fact, Brown said that building officials had to call in his father, who owned a firm called Dad’s Construction, to help generate power. A Dad’s van with a portable generator ran throughout the game to ensure the game would go on.

The fact that the building was not finished did not bother the throng of 15,326 who came to watch the game. Montréal Canadiens legend Jacques Plante started in goal for the Oilers, while the great Gerry Cheevers started in net for the Crusaders. The crowd, at that time, marked the highest game attendance in WHA history.

That night, it would be Plante, despite being well into his 40s, who would out-duel Cheevers and lead the Oilers to a 4-1 win.

The opening would be a bright spot on a dim Oilers season. The Oilers missed the playoffs that year, finishing with a 36-38-4 record, and on many nights, the new arena was half-full.

But for some, it would mark the shining moment of their careers.

"I guess one of the great moments was to be there when they first opened the Coliseum and to be there for the first National Hockey League game at the Coliseum," said Al Hamilton, the WHA legend and the first Oiler to have his number retired by the club.

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