Dorval – August 27, 2022
After major renovation work, the Dorval Arena is ready to re-open once more.
The Dorval arena, situated on Dawson Avenue, underwent a major renovation and restructuring during the pandemic, and is now ready to welcome citizens back to its ice surfaces and expanding seating and viewing areas. An estimated expenditure of $11.3 Million dollars went into the project, which sees the 57-year old arena fitted with a new second floor that has an overview of the ice surface below.
A hub for recreational activities, including hockey, ringuette and figure skating during the winter months, the arena is also used during the summer, too, for sports such as lacrosse and ball hockey. It plays host to the annual Dorval Oldtimers Tournament as well. Today, some of the old timers that’ll take to the ice to celebrate the grand re-opening, are former NHLers and Montreal Canadiens alumni.
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Among them, former Habs such as Richard Sévigny, Stéphane Richer, Stéphane Quintal, Pierre Dagenais, Francis Bouillon, Oleg Petrov, Mathieu Dandenault, and Gilbert Delorme, coached by Chris Nilan – with several other alumni players expected to be announced once the action gets underway.
Thankfully for the Dorval Old Timers team, nobody was really paying very much attention to the scoreboard, and the Montreal Canadiens Alumni thumped them by a whopping 18 to 3.
Some of the members of the Canadiens squad looked like they could maybe still lace up and play in an AHL game, although that sure isn’t going to happen. The itch that a player gets to blast a puck never really leaves, as Stephane Richer seemingly held back that feeling and didn’t riffle the puck like he wanted to, and probably still can – but that glimmer in his eye, and that twitch of muscle memory suggested he wanted to let a shot rip. Like the Richer of old. He did wrist one top corner, and looked great in doing so.
Then there’s Pierre Dagenais, who looked massive on his skates compared to the competition and his teammates. Dagenais let a few heavy shots go, but luckily for everyone, all he hit was the back of the net. Gilbert Delorme spent the game cruising around jokingly looking for an opponent to drop the gloves with, but found no takers. He did take the games only penalty, for for roughing up Dorval’s Mark Diaz – but instead of a trip to the sin bin, Diaz was awarded a penalty shot – and missed the net.
Events such as these are a reminder that even the worst player in the NHL, is a damned good player. Not to say any of the men on the ice this afternoon fit that description, more of an observation between the two teams.
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Earlier in the day, the arena opened its fresh sheet of ice to the first recreational skating session of the season. To the sound of thematic music, residents took to the ice to chance to skate alongside characters such as princesses Elsa, Belle, and Leia, from the Disney world, as world as Doctor Strange, Star-Lord, Spiderman, Wonder Woman, and Harley Quinn from the Marvel and DC universes.
On Sunday, August 28th, citizens are invited to an open house during which associations will showcase their sports during friendly games and on-ice training sessions.
