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Brampton Battalion Arena Name: Powerade Centre |
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| Powerade Centre |
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| What's the Arena Like? |
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No two teams in the CHL are closer together than Brampton and Mississauga. The two suburbs border each other on Toronto's western frontier, and have well over a million people between them. Back in 1997, the OHL was preparing to expand to Brampton, but with a sweetheart arena deal and money and publicity promised by the legendary Don Cherry, expansion was granted to both rival cities at the same time, and two new arenas went up ten minutes apart on the same street. Such was the OHL handicapped at the very beginning of its existence in Halton-Peel region. Instead of one community team with over a million people to advertise and cater towards, you had two - acting as rivals, hating each other, and competing for the attention of the same fickle, Leafs-loving suburban Torontonian fan. So, the arenas were built and the new team was minted, and the now renamed Powerade Centre was thrown up in a hurry to house the Battalion. The rink is another in the OHL's series of new suburban arenas. It is a large building at the interchange of two highways, the 410 and the 407, and it is surrounded by parking lots and little else. There are the usual suburban big box stores in the neighbourhood if you're willing to drive a ways, but within walking distance from the Centre itself there is only highway and undeveloped land. From the outside the Powerade Centre looks like a hockey arena but is unusually clad in reflective aluminum, which makes the arena glow on a sunny day. The Battalion's part of the arena is rounded like most new hockey rinks, but it also has a massive square attachment to its side. That massive attachment, as we soon found out, is three other hockey rinks. The Powerade Centre doubles as a community arena and there are four ice surfaces in the building along with requisite dressing rooms and the like. The main part of the building, though, has two main entrances - one on each side - and entering the building feels like entering an older rink. The hallways are painted in a dark battleship grey like many old barns, and the "bunker" feeling of the building continues. The halls feature many kiosks and food stands, and the inadvertent retro atmosphere is obvious. There is also exposed concrete everywhere, just like in a real bunker. Apart from a large, well-stocked team store you wouldn't have much evidence so far that the Centre is so new. The Bunker becomes a new building as soon as you enter the seating area. The seats are laid out in a "U" shape and every single one is a peevishly bright purple. Ugh. They're also narrow for a new building, and leg room, while great compared with some of the league, isn't fantastic for a new edifice. In fact, perhaps the best word to describe the Powerade Centre would be "spartan". There are luxury boxes running down both sides of the building but many of them seemed to be empty the day we were there. The views from the seats are universally good. The fourth side of the building, or the space at the top of the "U", features a restaurant, glassed in, at the top, and the "bleachers" at the bottom. The bleachers are about five rows of benches, much like at a ballpark, and apparently are set aside for the "rowdies". They're also the cheapest adult tickets in the OHL. Battalion logos are painted on the wall behind the bleachers which was pretty cool to stare at all game. The music in Brampton was excellent, not too loud and very well-suited to my own musical tastes. Most of the music was 70's and 80's punk and new wave; I've never heard the Clash's "Train in Vain" at any other rink. The scoreboard is small for a new building, but it gets the job done. The building also features the Brampton Sports Hall of Fame, which is worth investigating in an intermission. There are the banners from the Battalion's successes over the years, as well as banners from the Bunker's other tenant, the Brampton Excelsiors lacrosse team. The military theme of the team is done up to the hilt. The Battalion enter the ice from under a giant inflatable tank, and before the game, the sound system plays battle sounds. The announcer, instead of announcing "last minute of play in the period", instead says "one minute until cease-fire". The mascot is "Sarge" and is a strange-looking soldier type. Finally, whenever the Battalion score a goal, the sound system plays Edwin Starr's "War" which, frankly, is awesome. In general though, the military theme feels tacked on, and doesn't really fit with the suburban locale and purple seats. Perhaps the worst feature at the Powerade Centre comes from the fact that it was thrown up in a hurry in a little-developed area. There is only one way to get to the building - by car - and while the Centre has a massive free parking lot, there are only two small entrances to the lot from Kennedy Road, which itself is only two lanes outside the building. As a result, traffic backups in Brampton are legendary, and even with the team's traditional small crowds, it can take anywhere from ten minutes to a half-hour to get out of the parking lot after the game. Unlike nearly every other sporting facility in Canada, leaving early to beat the rush in Brampton actually makes sense. The Powerade Centre is a new building, but unlike most other new buildings in the OHL, it seems that the city of Brampton was determined to come in under budget. Consequently, there aren't the facilities found in other new buildings (such as in Mississauga only ten minutes away). The Bunker, when full, has a pretty decent atmosphere, as the sort of person who demands that their rink have sushi and cheerleaders would go to the Hershey Centre. However, it ain't full very often. The diehard-but-tiny fan base in Brampton is both a blessing and a curse, though, and the Battalion have always had trouble attracting fans, and may well be losing money. The Battalion will never move as long as their biggest fan is also their owner, and one who is richer than God, but it's too bad that two teams had to be installed a couple kilometres away from each other in the first place. It took a zillionaire and some somewhat shady dealings to clear up the situation, and the OHL is a lot stronger today to have three teams in the GTA and one on the Niagara peninsula. But at the end of the day, Brampton and Mississauga still compete with each other for the same fans, advertising money, and attention in the GTA, and the league is probably weaker for it. I don't expect either of the Majors or the Battalion to move any time soon, but at the same time, I don't expect either team to suddenly gain legions of fans, either. Brampton is a once-a-season trip for me as it's close to London and tickets are easy to get, but the tacked-on military theme and acres of empty purple seats make it a pretty lousy hockey atmosphere. I sincerely hope that things will change in the future, but I am not hopeful that Torontonians will ever embrace the OHL en masse. |
| Future Developments |
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There are no plans to renovate or replace the Powerade Centre. |
| What Is It Like For Away Fans? |
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Brampton's crowds are usually small and pleasant. I didn't encounter any intimidation whatsoever - the team's chief demographic is suburban middle-class families, and that's what you'll encounter. Battalion crowds are polite and reserved. They could sure stand to be a bit louder though. Knighthawk says: Disappointed in the arena when I went to it for the first time. I couldn't believe that that was it for something so new. However, I do wish Brampton would score at least once when I go because I want to hear the air raid siren. :) Sports Nut says: Wow, what can I say about these guys? I've been 2x now and both had the fans dead silent for the most part. When they score, someone behind the benches near the top has a TRUCK horn. Totally blew my blue horn out of the water, because it's huge, loud as hell, and friggin' annoying!!! Some great fans, but not a lot of them. Spits fans took up nearly an entire section last time I went, and definitely outcheered the other 2000 fans in attendance. They aren't in the same class as Barrie for quietness, but very much second in the league. Great people overall and I got very little hassle from the people there. Intimidation Factor: LOW |
| Inside the Powerade Centre |
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How To Get There |
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The Powerade Centre is very, very easy to find, being located at the junction of the 407 and the 410. Find the junction on a map and you can find your own way there quite easily. North: Take the 400 South to the 401 West. From the 401 West, exit north at 410 to the Derry Road Exit. Turn left (west) onto Derry and go approximately 1.5 kms to Kennedy Road. Turn right (north) onto Kennedy Road and proceed approximately 2.5 kms to the Brampton Centre entrance. South: (Toronto): 427 North to 401 West and exit north at 410. Exit at Derry Road and turn left (west) onto Derry and approximately 1.5 kms to Kennedy Road. Turn right (north) onto Kennedy road and proceed approximately 2.5 kms to the Brampton Centre entrance. East: 401 West, exit north at 410 and exit at Derry Road. Turn left (west) onto Derry and approximately 1.5 kms to Kennedy Road. Turn right (north) onto Kennedy Road and proceed approximately 2.5 kms to the Brampton Centre entrance. West: 401 East to 410 north and exit at Derry Road. Turn left (west) onto Derry and approximately 1.5 kms to Kennedy Road. Turn right (north) onto Kennedy Road and proceed approximately 2.5 kms to the Brampton Centre entrance. Parking is on-site, and as mentioned above, the lot takes longer to empty after a game than the time that passes between Harold Snepsts goals. You have no other options, though, so your best bet is to try and get a spot near an exit or to wait long after the game before attempting to leave. Or, you know, wait. |
| Admission Prices |
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Club Seats $17.00 Side Seats $16.00 End Zone $12.00 |
| Another Look Inside the Powerade Centre |
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| Franchise History |
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Brampton was added to the OHL in 1998-99 as an expansion team. |
| Retired Numbers |
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None |
| Local Rivals |
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Brampton's main rivals are the other GTA teams, namely St Michael's and Mississauga, the latter of which is only a ten minute drive away. |
| About the City |
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By Bramptonian SimontheSignGuy: Brampton's origins are much like those of many other Ontario towns. British settlers first arrived in early 1800's, named their chosen plot after their hometown on the other side of the Atlantic, and proceeded to build a community. Brampton was also called Buffy's Corners back then, after a tavern that was one of the first buildings around the area where Main Street and Queen Street now intersect downtown. Since its predictably humble beginnings as a horse-and-buggy community, Brampton was incorporated as a village in 1853, and as a town some twenty years later. Unlike many other cozy Ontario towns which sprung up in identical fashion and remained cozy little towns, Brampton continued to grow due mainly to three things: location, location, location. Because of its close proximity to Toronto, along with its airport and highways, Brampton was very much destined to become what it is known as today, over 150 years later, and that is a suburb. But despite the inevitable residential and industrial sprawl, the center of old Brampton retains plenty of that cliche "small-town charm." Today, Brampton's population is steadily pushing 400,000. It is estimated that, at the present rate of exponentially growing subdivisions, the city will eventually top-out at around 600,000 sometime in the early 2020's. As Toronto's bedroom community, naturally Brampton's ethnic makeup is quite varied. It has diversified from British roots to include various peoples, mainly from Europe and Asia. Currently the fastest growing ethnic group in Brampton is Indian. Brampton celebrates its multicultural make-up each summer, during a three day festival known as Carabram. Businesses in Brampton include the Daimler-Chrysler assembly plant, the Bacardi and Coca Cola bottling plants, Nestle, McDonnell-Douglas (famous for developing the CanadArm space crane), Nortel Networks (famous for communications technology, and crashing stock prices) as well as thousands of other companies. In recent years the once spacious north-east end of the city has been populated by lots of shipping warehouses and logistics companies. There is little real nightlife in Brampton. Residents wanting to spend some entertainment dollars usually flock down to Toronto. This has resulted in Brampton being branded as something of a "ghost town" or a "hole" when it comes to having fun. That's not to say there is absolutely nothing to do in Brampton on the all-important weekend. There are certainly a few clubs and night spots. But they tend to come and go, as it's difficult to compete with the lure of the big city lights. Brampton makes up for its relatively un-hip image with an abundance of parks and recreation areas. Gage Park, located near City Hall, is one of the most scenic old woodlots anywhere, and Etobicoke Creek, which winds its way through the heart of the city, is accompanied by an excellent, and equally scenic, bike and jogging trail. And one cannot talk about scenic views without mentioning Main Street in the middle of summer. The archway of old trees and the street lamps with their hanging baskets of flowers remind residents and visitors why Brampton was, and is often still called, the Flower Town of Canada. The Brampton sports scene is huge at the grass-roots level. Brampton boasts one of the highest adult recreational sports participation percentages in the country, and the Brampton Youth Hockey Association is a multi-tiered organization where children of all ages can pursue their favourite Canadian pastime. The Brampton Major Excelsiors lacrosse team is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, sports teams in Canada. Established in 1871, the Excels have won the Mann Cup seven times, most recently in 2002. The Bramalea Blues and Brampton Capitals are storied junior hockey rivals. And since 1998 Brampton also has a competitive Ontario Hockey League franchise, known as the Battalion. Curiously, neither the lacrosse nor hockey teams enjoy huge crowd support. This is often attributed to the very multicultural make-up of the city's population, and to the far-reaching influence of the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs. Brampton was home to the first ever Rogers Community Cable station, established in the 1970's by none other than Ted Rogers himself. Toronto's biggest new rock/alternative radio station CFNY, now known as 102.1 The Edge, also traces its roots to Brampton in the late 1960's. It is believed that the famous Rush song "Spirit of Radio" was inspired by the original Brampton station, which broadcast the kind of non-commerical music bassist/frontman Geddy Lee would surely enjoy. Since the station was taken over, and the broadcast signal transferred to the top of the CN Tower in the early eighties, little remains at the original Kennedy Road site that would remind residents of this interesting fact. As a side note, Brampton does not have any other truly local radio station to call its own. Brampton is not particularly well-known for the famous Canadians it has produced. Sure, there are a few notables. Rick Nash and Andrew Cassels are two homegrown NHL players. Mark Boswell is the local Olympic high-jump medalist. Chris Cuthbert, acclaimed HNIC announcer, calls Brampton his home, though he hails from Calgary. Scott Thompson, of Kids in the Hall cult fame, grew up here. Keeping in tune with being overshadowed by the big city, any future celebrity from Brampton is as likely to describe themselves, or be described by the national media, as being from Toronto. And while it's undoubtedly exciting to be able to reference a rock star, a famous actor, or even a well-known annual event when talking about one's town, for the majority of Brampton residents that's probably the least important aspect of living here. In essence, as one of the largest but more non-descript cities in Canada, Brampton is hardly the coolest place to be from, or even to visit, but a pretty darn decent place to live. For more information about Brampton accomodations and attractions, please visit Brampton Tourism's website. |
Feedback |
If anything is incorrect or you have something to add, please e-mail me at  and I'll update the guide. |
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Copyright © Kevin Jordan
2002-08. |