Here is a sports related story I wrote for the Chilliwack Progress a few years ago. Thought FA would like it.
My 40 Years Of Memories Of The Old Barn On Corbould
By Chris Gadsden
When Progress Sports Editor Dale Cory asked me to write about my personal memories of the Coliseum, my initial thought was what could I write about.
It did not take long for several memories to start flooding back to my mind, way too many for me to write in around the hundred words he had given me to recount them in.
I first came to Chilliwack in the spring of 1964 working with the Ministry of Highways with a survey crew to survey for overpasses over Highway 1. Included in this work was the Evans Road overpass which now looks like it finally will be built after 40 years of planning.
The Coliseum took only a quarter of the time to build starting in 1948 the year of the big Fraser River flood and was opened 10 years later in 1958.
As a newcomer to Chilliwack and being interested in hockey, skating and of course girls, the Coliseum was always a drawing place. It was one year later, in 1965, while attending a public skating session at the Coliseum with a fellow crew member that we met up with this girl. I took her out on a couple of dates before meeting her girl friend who turned out to be my future wife, Maxine. We were married that same year. This is one memory I will not forget! Thanks, Coliseum.
The late Ev Downing, a Chilliwack fixture on the sporting scene for many years, was attempting to get Lacrosse going in the Coliseum. I believe it was in the late sixties. I gave that a try for a while and remember getting in a fight in the middle of the Coliseum floor. This was the only fight I ever had in many years of playing hockey and other sports.
I forget the year, but another memory was attending a Junior Jets playoff game with Bob Foster the Jets coach. I got to the game late, and ended up sitting on the steps, as there were no seats left. It was if every hockey fan in Chilliwack was at the game that night. I think they sent the Fire Marshall to a conference in Vancouver for this series. I can still see the Jet’s diminutive forward Norm Penny skating down the Coliseum ice as the Coliseum rafters seemed to shake from some of the loudest cheers I ever heard at a hockey series. The Jets went a ways in the playoffs I believe that year before losing out in Trail.
I played several years of Rec Hockey in the Coliseum before the Twin Rinks was built. We used to get off the ice after 1 a.m. in those days due to the lack of ice time. I was not much of a hockey player, but I remember one goal I scored on Lindsay McPhee at the West end of the Coliseum. I was just crossing the blue line when my teammate dropped the puck to me, and I let a slap shot go that knocked Lindsay’s catching glove off and into the net along with the puck. Former NHL player Andy Hebenton was watching the game that night so that was my most best memory as a hockey player in the Coliseum. My worst was as a fill in goaltender as I had about 12 shots on me and they all went in before I was replaced.
I always took in the Pee Wee Jamboree starting in the 1970s, and they were very well attended during those years. Grant Ullyott, Sports Director at the time for CHWK Radio, even broadcast some of the games live. I remember while watching the games how great it would be one day if I had a son, and to have him playing in the Jamboree.
This dream came true some 20 years later as my first son, Gordon, born in 1979, played in it in 1991 and 1992. I helped with the organizing of the opening ceremonies in Gordon’s first year of playing. I went to the extreme of getting a Grand Piano lent to us for the opening ceremonies from Bestebroer’s Pianos and organs. Hazel Menzies played the piano at center ice while Jean Scott sang the National Anthems.
In 1992 we had one of Chillwack’s infamous blizzards, but the Jamboree went on. Gordon, in his second Jamboree, was the captain of West End Auto Body. They won the “C” final 3-2 over Toby’s Car Detail. Gordon picked up an assist on the opening goal while his now good friend and fishing partner, Jonathon Beaty’s slapshot from the blue line was tipped home by Brad Van Esch for the winner. That was, and still is to this day, a very special memory to our family.
One of my last memories of the Coliseum will be as I help with Chilliwack’s Minor Hockey’s 15 annual Hockey Day in Chilliwack on Saturday, March the 6th. Close to 120 Minor hockey players from 8 different House hockey teams in Atom, Pee Wee, Bantam and Midget will get a chance to showcase their skills. For most of them it will be the last time they play a hockey game on Coliseum ice.
As the days of the Coliseum’s life near its end, many good memories much different than mine are etched in the minds of thousands of other families, never to be forgotten be they hockey or the so many different activities held in the Coliseum since it was finished being built in 1958.
As we move over to the new state of the art and modern twin ice sheeted Coliseum later this year we will start many new memories. In the meantime however we should also not forget the people and businesses that had the foresight to build the Coliseum that has been a part of Chilliwack history and skyline over last 46 some years.
The Coliseum will soon be gone, and we will miss The Old Barn on Corbould but mine and many others precious memories will still remain with us for the rest of our lives.
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Topic: Have Not Written The Journal For A while (Read 3820 times)