Inspiring news for Wolves fans: Sudbury Council approves 5,800-seat downtown arena
The Sudbury Wolves have played out of the Community Arena on Elgin Street throughout the entirety of their OHL/OHA existence that dates back to 1972 when they arrived from their previous chapter as the Niagara Falls Flyers. Despite a disappointing end to the club’s playoff pursuit this past week, good news is on the horizon in the Nickel Capital.
Sudbury City Council has unanimously greenlit a $200-million, 5,800-seat arena/events centre in the downtown sector. The full story is detailed at sudbury.com as well as thesudburystar.com.
City council unanimously backs $200M arena/events centre https://t.co/xh3prT75pS
— Sudbury .com (@sudburydotcom) April 17, 2024
For Sudbury Wolves Owner and Governor Dario Zulich, council’s decision is good news for sports fans, but also for the city as a whole.
“It’s tremendous news for our community,” said Zulich, who has owned the franchise since 2016. “More than just a hockey arena, the event centre will serve as a beacon, drawing tourists from all over Northern Ontario to the heart of our city.
I’ve already contacted the OHL to express our interest in hosting the Memorial Cup and the World Juniors right here in Sudbury,” he added. “This facility will be the crown jewel of all arenas in the OHL and CHL, setting the gold standard for decades to come.”
The Wolves drew crowds of 4,621 and 4,827 for Games 3 and 4 of their recent second round series against the rival North Bay Battalion. Sudbury featured a high-powered offence this past season, boasting first round NHL talent in St. Louis Blues prospect Dalibor Dvorsky and San Jose Sharks pick Quentin Musty, along with the OHL’s leading scorer in Seattle Kraken draftee David Goyette.
The arena/events centre project is expected to be a conventional design-bid-build project, which under its current projected timeline will open by April 2028.
An exact site has not been selected for the project, but it’s expected to be constructed somewhere on the block to the immediate east of the Sudbury Community Arena, which the city recently purchased to accommodate the arena and ancillary services.
The Sudbury Community Arena is the OHL’s oldest facility and it appears the Wolves have a few seasons left in the building that housed the development of eventual NHL standouts like Mike Foligno, Pat Verbeek, Marc Staal and Quinton Byfield.
There’s lots to look forward to, but for now it’s back to the drawing board as the Wolves debrief on the season that was and set about the work of evaluating where they stand in the always competitive Ontario Hockey League.
Wasn't the way we wanted it to end, but there's nobody else we wanted along for the ride. Thank you, Wolves Nation 🫶 pic.twitter.com/PF7q2YHzUi
— Sudbury Wolves (@Sudbury_Wolves) April 19, 2024