Kevin Jordan, left, and Stephen McLean, right, pose with the Ed Chynoweth Cup while visiting the Art Hauser Centre on Friday. (submitted photo/Kevin Jordan)

By Ian Gustafson

Head Out West

P.A. Raiders game day experience one of the best

Oct 11, 2019 | 10:39 AM

An Ontario man who has been to 55 different Canadian Hockey League (CHL) rinks has named the Prince Albert Raiders game day experience number two on his list.

Kevin Jordan, from London, Ont. started an Ontario Hockey League (OHL) review website in 2003 to share his experiences visiting each rink.

After visiting numerous CHL arenas, Jordan named the 48-year-old Art Hauser Centre and the Prince Albert Raiders the best game day experience he has witnessed second to the Val-d’Or Foreurs of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL).

“I generally find if it’s a new building there is a lot of really nice amenities, but sometimes the music is too loud or there is no atmosphere,” Jordan said. “Whereas in the old buildings there does tend to be a lot of atmosphere. I just found that Prince Albert really hit the mark between having a lot of atmosphere and having all the little things that make old buildings interesting.”

He said small details such as legroom and no lines to the bathroom really added to the experience.

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“The thing that really put it over the top for us was the friendliness of the local people,” he said.

Jordan and his friend Stephen McLean went to the Ches Leach Lounge at the Art Hauser Centre after the game sporting their OHL jerseys and Jordan said he had plenty of locals coming up to introduce themselves.

“It literally took us an hour to get out of there because people just kept coming up to us. I guess the word had spread that people from Ontario were there and everybody wanted to hear our story,” he said.

“I’ve never had that before. You usually get treated out of curiosity if you’re wearing a jersey from outside your league but never the complete warm, open, friendly atmosphere that people have there.”

He recently went on a Saskatchewan Western Hockey League (WHL) tour with McLean. They travelled through Saskatchewan last weekend visiting a few WHL arenas in Swift Current, Prince Albert, Saskatoon, and Moose Jaw.

On his website he lists ticket prices, directions, and comments on the overall atmosphere of numerous CHL arenas.

“Back in the early days of the internet there really wasn’t a lot of information out there a lot of teams had very rudimentary websites,” Jordan said. “Sometimes you couldn’t find things like ticket prices or directions to the arena I mean Google Maps wasn’t a thing.”

He thought the opportunity was out there to give fans the important information on CHL rinks. Over the years he said it has morphed more into a blog on his reflections and experiences since GPS technology removed the need for directions.

Trevor Redden, play-by-play voice of the Raiders on 900 CKBI, said he met McLean at the Memorial Cup in Halifax and heard he was going to the Raiders game and interviewed him on Saturday night.

“I thought it would be interesting to hear about his experience across the WHL and we talked a little bit about his experience at the Art Hauser Centre but mostly about why he does that,” Redden said.

Redden said the WHL final last year when the Raiders played the Vancouver Giants is a great example of why the Art Hauser Centre is so great.

“It was loud, there was a great atmosphere in Vancouver. But it’s totally different the noise, the feel, the intimacy—everything’s just stacked on top of the ice,” Redden said.

He also said his interaction with the people of P.A. has been incredible.

“It’s my third year here and I feel like you go to the rink and because it’s a smaller community, the crowds are good but compared to other places where it might be 5,000 it’s not crazy so you get to know people,” he said. “Everyone is so friendly and so welcoming.”

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Ian.Gustafson@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @IanGustafson12