Rexall Place

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Rexall Place (formerly known as the Northlands Coliseum, Edmonton Coliseum and Skyreach Centre) is an indoor arena in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. The arena is home to the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League (NHL) and Edmonton Rush of the National Lacrosse League (NLL). Beginning in 2007-08, Rexall will also host a Western Hockey League team owned by the Oilers. The arena was completed in 1974 as the Northlands Coliseum to house the World Hockey Association Oilers. Then it became the Edmonton Coliseum in 1995, and Skyreach Centre in 1998, before it changed to its current name during the middle of the 2003-04 NHL season.

The official capacity for hockey is 16,839, which is slightly less than the 17,100 the arena held before the 2003-04 NHL season. Some media sources still quote the old capacity even though the Oilers have never announced an attendance above 16,839 since the most recent changes. Rexall Place includes 66 luxury suites. The arena is currently named for Rexall products, a subsidiary of Katz Group Canada which purchased the naming rights in December 2003.

A large bronze statue of Canadian hockey icon and former Oilers Captain Wayne Gretzky is situated outside of Rexall Place.

The arena is the only one in the NHL in which the players walk through a fan concourse, adjacent to the club bar, to get to the ice. This stretch of walkway, where fans will line up and yell encouragement to the Oilers, has been dubbed "The Green Mile" by players, comparing it to the stretch of walkway a condemned criminal goes down to the executioner.

The venue was the site of several Commonwealth Games sports in 1978, part of Universiade (the World University Games) in 1983, and WWE Backlash in 2004. Annual events include the Canadian Finals Rodeo and the Christian Conference, YC Alberta, Canada's largest Christian youth gathering (almost 17,000 according to [Extreme Dream Productions]).

Trivia

Gretzky's statue located outside the area

• The ice at Rexall Place is often regarded as the best in the National Hockey League. [link]

• Aside from the quality of the ice, Rexall Place is known for its boisterous and faithful fans. Even though the arena only seats 16,839 people for hockey games, decibel levels during Games 3, 4, and 6 of the San Jose/Edmonton series of the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs reached 110dB.

• At the beginning of Game 3 of the Anaheim/Edmonton series of the 2006 Stanley Cup Playoffs, the Oilers' anthem singer Paul Lorieau sang only a few lines of O Canada before letting the audience sing out the rest of the anthem. This has been done at all home games since, and it is slowly turning into a tradition. [link]

• A less popular tradition is also occurring at Rexall Place (and a few road games) where Oilers fans throw a piece of Grade A Beef from Alberta onto the ice. It was started during the 2006 Detroit/Edmonton series as an answer to the Red Wings' tradition of throwing octopuses onto the rink.

• Currently, it is the only NHL arena in which the team benches are on the same side as the press boxes. As a result, unlike other venues in the league, the players are seated with their backs to the main TV cameras that cover the action on the ice rink.

External links

• [Rexall Place homepage]
• [Aerial view at Terraserver.com]
• [Aerial view at Google Maps]
• [Discussion of hockey ice quality]
• [Edmonton Fans singing the Canadian anthem]

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