The QMJHL Arena Guide - Arena Robert-Guertin, Gatineau Olympiques

First Visit: October 19, 2008
CHL Arena: 37
QMJHL Arena: 12

While Gatineau is the third-largest city in Quebec, it is dwarfed by its twin Ottawa across the river. The city is a bilingual one, and from the outset I had always conceived that it would be a sort of hybrid of the QMJHL and the OHL. Even Robert Guertin Arena, with its downtown location, is closer to the Parliament Buildings than the Ottawa Civic Centre. However, while arena announcements are bilingual, make no mistake about it: it's a QMJHL town as surely as Ottawa is an OHL one, and the two solitudes don't appear to mix much in any way.

Robert Guertin Arena is a well-maintained building in a working-class neighbourhood. Nestled between downtown and the autoroute, it has a convenient location with on-site parking, and has an interesting traditional design with an arched roof and red aluminum siding complimenting brown brick. While the "marquee" entrance facing rue de Carillon is the one that an uninitiated visitor flocks towards, the main entrance is actually down along the side of the building facing the parking lot.

The arena lobby is a traditional one, with ticket windows, a souvenir boutique and concessions all immediately visible as soon as you enter, and the walls painted in team colours of purple, orange, black and yellow. There is very little public space between the ticket booths and the turnstiles, and later I was to find out why - immediately after puck drop, the turnstiles are whisked away and the lobby becomes part of the main arena. Unusual, but interesting, and it would appear that latecomers are forced to have their tickets taken right at the door by arena security. Robert Guertin is one of those old buildings with many nooks, crannies, back staircases and strange entryways, and so by whatever route you choose, you ultimately find yourself in the main seating bowl.

Like much of its similarly-aged brethren, the Robert Guertin Arena is a triple-concourse design, with a top concourse being the main one for seat access and complimenting one under the seats and another at ice level. The setup works very well and bottlenecks are uncommon. Wooden seats surround the ice on a steep incline painted in bright blue, red and green, and they're wide to the point of being almost unheard of. Leg and elbow room abounds! However, the same cannot be said about the section design. There are only twelve sections in the entire building, and most have at least 40 seats to an aisle. If you're on the end of the row when the arena is full, you'll be disturbed almost constantly by passers-by.

Washrooms and concessions aren't plentiful and tend to line up and stay that way. The scoreclock is relatively new and works quite well, and includes a digital display for sponsorship messages and announcements. Rows of suites overhang the seating running down both sides of the ice, and if you look up to the rafters, each suite is equipped with a television set embedded in the ceiling. Most were turned either to the game feed or the NFL game going on at the time, but the one directly above our heads was turned to something else entirely. A press box runs down the one side of the arena, completing the setup. Finally, the arena's strangest feature is one I haven't seen anywhere else, ever. Robert Guertin Arena has two penalty boxes for some reason. Each side of the ice contains a player bench and penalty box, although the one on the visitors' side doesn't appear to be used for anything.

The history of the Olympiques is also on display everywhere. Banners hang from the ceiling celebrating great players and championships, and the concourses are all full of pictures and other memorabilia from the team's long history. One arena wall contains photos of every player from Hull's 1996-97 Memorial Cup-winning team. In spite of the history and good design, as soon as the game started, I was worried that the game experience in Gatineau would be ruined like so many others across Canada. Game presentation is as promotion-heavy as any I've seen in the province of Quebec. Nearly every stoppage in play is time for another sponsor announcement, and the mascot, Hully the Panda, is pretty over-the-top with his zany antics. While promotions tend to destroy atmosphere in most buildings, this thankfully doesn't seem to be a problem in Gatineau, and the crowd is knowledgeable, loud and into the game. It was very gratifying to see.

Gatineau is the closest QMJHL city to my home in London, but it was my twelfth Q arena visited for a game. I had put off going for a long time because I figured it was the easiest to get and I would visit someday, but having finally been now, I'm glad I waited. As a more seasoned veteran of the QMJHL now I'm able to appreciate just how terrific of a building Robert Guertin Arena is by the league's standards, with a loud atmosphere, great views of the ice and wide, comfortable seats. While it has its problems - not enough washrooms or concessions, a cramped ticket area and ridiculously large seating sections - it's refreshing to find a place where a promo-heavy atmosphere doesn't destroy the hockey one. And moreover, while it is within walking distance of Ontario, it's just as much QMJHL as Val-d'Or or Victoriaville. The whole game long I didn't see one 67's sweater, and the only Ottawa Senators one I saw was worn by my travel companion. In many ways Gatineau turns its back somewhat on the larger city across the river, and they have a stronger and more unique hockey experience for it.