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Back when we were kids I don't ever remember school being cancelled due to cold weather. Blizzards yes, but cold no. Thought it might be fun to get some stories going on what arena is the coldest ever indoor rink in the history of Minnesota. My vote: Hallock Arena. The rink manager was wearing shorts when we showed up to play. Must have been -30 outside and -31 inside that night. The cigarette smoke couldn't even warm it up inside.

This is somewhat off topic, but in response to the lack of cancellations due to cold back in the day. I think it has to do with vehicles. They were made much better back then and could withstand the cold and still start. These days busses can't seem to start when it's too cold and without a bus starting students don't get anywhere.

I know Freezeberger is cold, but back in the day, the Osseo rink was even colder than it is today. I played goalie and had a shot shatter my cup in that rink. I have been able to produce two kids so the blow wasn't lethal.

My vote is Osseo, I'm convinced that no other rink in the state would be could enough to have caused that incident.
GB

Gotta be the Old Arena in TRF.

3A has to be a frontrunner for dumpy/cold rinks.

Windom and Worthington really fit the bill.

The old Barn in Cloquet.

A quick google search yielded this Best Of as a result.

http://www.ushsho.com/forums/viewtopic. ... b7b3d0e1c6

The Cloquet Barn seems like the popular choice.

Benson. I think it's a converted steel corn storage building with no heat or insulation. Fond memories though

Proctor Arena - even had a hole in the roof so you could look at the stars on a cold clear night.
A 7 a.m. squirt tourney game at Cloquet was a close second.

Traxler wrote:This is somewhat off topic, but in response to the lack of cancellations due to cold back in the day. I think it has to do with vehicles. They were made much better back then and could withstand the cold and still start. These days busses can't seem to start when it's too cold and without a bus starting students don't get anywhere.

I have to disagree with this. Back when cars had carburetors they were much harder to start than today's with fuel injection. And there's a reason why you don't see nearly as many people having to plug in their vehicles as you did back then. Even diesels (including buses) are much easier starting than in the olden days.

Back to the topic at hand, I agree with the two posters who mentioned the old Osseo arena and the barn in Cloquet...both were colder than whatever the outside temperature happened to be. The ONLY good thing compared to outside was there was no wind chill.

As far as the metro goes, my vote goes to the beautiful dump Lily Lake arena in Stillwater.

The quonset at Roseau in the late 70's. Just this morning I was talking to an old HS buddy about that timber box. They heated the fans area so they could look through glass. I remember getting cold cocked at center Ice when the puck was in deep. I don't remember if he got called. I do remember regaining consciousness and looking up at the ceiling and observing about a foot of frost on the ceiling. The locker rooms were barely heated and we huddled together to stay warm. It wasn't bad enough having a three hour bus ride up there to think about it, or chasing Broten around, but it took two days to get blood flow back to your feet.

They leave the doors open to let some heat in with this type of weather in Pine City.

AMERICAN wrote:Back when we were kids I don't ever remember school being cancelled due to cold weather. Blizzards yes, but cold no.

That's my memory too, but it's likely just luck, not toughness. My schooling was '80-'93. There were cold days in there to be sure, but Gov. Carlson set the standard for closing schools in the winter of '94 when the windchill in the metro hit -49. If had hit that temp on a weekday when I was in school, they likely would have cancelled classes too. Similarly, if a kid was in school from '98-'11, they wouldn't have gotten a "snow day" for cold weather either.

Still though, that doesn't address your point about arenas. The early indoor arenas didn't even have artificial ice. They were just so cold inside the ice stayed frozen. That means, even if it was -20 inside, the game was still on!

http://history.vintagemnhockey.com/page ... ippodrome-

Until 1950 the Hippodrome relied on mother nature to help make good ice since the ice was "natural ice".

Cloquet old arena is a great choice but one that has to be up there that most won't think of is West Side rink in West St Paul But also here's one that most won't think of what about what was Breck arena which is now Minnehaha back in the early 70's had a roof but no sides

Maroon and Gold sports center in Forest Lake. 81-82 before the compresser was installed. They opened all the doors at -20. Lily Lake/St Marys Point/All the Ramsey county arenas.

Traxler wrote:This is somewhat off topic, but in response to the lack of cancellations due to cold back in the day. I think it has to do with vehicles. They were made much better back then and could withstand the cold and still start. These days busses can't seem to start when it's too cold and without a bus starting students don't get anywhere.

Actually, it is something that has changed since the past, but it's not vehicles.

Sorry, but vehicles today are light years better than the past.

It's liability/lawsuit fears.

That's the main reason.

I agree all ramsey county arena's but seems like especially West side and Pleasent, but Freezeburger has to have a special place

Nymore

No arena anywhere was as cold as Ely's in the '70s. Basically an uninsulated pole barn it often felt colder inside than outside. The ice was natural - there were no cooling coils under the ice, only concrete and re-bar. But no ice on the Range was faster.

The old rink in Warroad, seconded only to the old rink in Cloquet. Fryberger and the old rink in Princeton right up there. Any any non-metro arena if you draw the first game of the day!

Someone should start a thread on warmest arena - Walmart 3 on 3 at Schwans July before last. So much water and condensation on the boards we couldnt see anything. Braemar last September for an OS tourney. Heaters stuck on full blast in one of the arenas. Miserable for players and fans.

ok im sorry getting off track ___ but weirdest Arena with all do respect to the dinky arena outside of Stillwater and the old Rochester arena with 10 feet between bluelines, had to be the Ice Center in Golden Valley, cement walls for plexiglass on one side, 5 foot boards on the other side with no glass, cant remember what lined the rink behind the nets probably chicken wire

Cloquet's old barn and the Fairgrounds rink in Hibbing get my vote.

The old shakopee "bubble" which I believe was torn down in the late 80s or early 90s was ridiculously cold! Not sure if anyone on here recalls that place? Also Harding Arena in east St. Paul is pretty brutal.

has to be Hallock, I got cold just looking at it when we went back up there for my kids to play there