The OHL Arena Guide - Walden Community Centre, Sudbury Wolves

Walden Community Centre is a small arena in the Greater Sudbury community of Lively, Ontario that was a temporary host to the Sudbury Wolves in 1982. On February 18 of that year, Sudbury's municipal workers went on strike, which padlocked the doors to Sudbury Arena and forced the Wolves to move elsewhere temporarily. Team owner Joe "Ivan" Drago negotiated a temporary emergency lease to the Walden Community Centre, about ten kilometers west of Sudbury, and the Wolves moved in for two games that weekend against the Cornwall Royals and Ottawa 67's - both losses, and with about 1,900 attending each game. The emergency lease would have covered the rest of the 1981-82 season, but the municipal strike lasted only a day, and the Wolves were back at the big rink by the next weekend. Interestingly, the city of North Bay attempted to lure the Wolves during the strike (the Cents would arrive in town the next season). Joe Drago said at the time that "North Bay officials thought we could draw 3,000 to every game we played there. But we feel an obligation to our community."

The rink itself is a smallish building of light brown brick and sky blue aluminum siding, with the unmistakable arched ceiling that indicates a hockey arena. It's located right on the south side of town within spitting distance of the Trans-Canada Highway. Once inside, the lobby of the building is done up in a tasteful dark green, with the cold seating area behind a set of glassed-in doors. The ice surface itself is surrounded by a few rows of seats running down each sideline. The seats themselves are grey wooden benches.

It's difficult to really write a great deal about the Walden Community Centre. The rink isn't much, and was only used as a last-minute emergency home during an unexpected emergency. Yet another footnote in OHL history, there is no hint today on the grounds of what happened in mid-February of 1982.