The WHL Arena Guide - Estevan Civic Auditorium, Estevan Bruins

In the early, rebel league days of the WHL, league membership was not necessarily determined by which teams made the most sense, or which markets were most primed for the arrival of major junior hockey, but by which teams were willing to break away from their respective provincial junior leagues. As such, the late 1960's saw WHL teams in places like Weyburn and Estevan that otherwise probably never would have hosted such a high level.

The Estevan Bruins have existed since the 1950's, and still do, in fact - a SJHL team called the Bruins plays at a new arena in town and draws well. But for five seasons, 1966 to 1971, those same Bruins played in the WHL. In the summer of 2015, the Civic Auditorium sat a short distance away from the new arena, Affinity Place, and of all the hockey arenas I've been to in my career doing this stuff, it probably was the most dilapidated. It was dingy and worn out on the outside, occupying a site in the centre of town not far from the water tower. Rust and grime was everywhere on the inside, the floors and seats were all peeling painted wood, and it didn't look like it had much changed from the day it opened inside. There are other hockey rinks across Canada of a similar vintage that have been well preserved, but the Civic Auditorium looked like it hadn't seen even routine maintenance for decades. The Auditorium looked like it had a barrel roof from the outside, but there was a silver false ceiling on the inside preventing much of a view, and giving the old barn a claustrophobic feeling about it.

At the time I was surprised that such a derelict arena was still standing considering that a new one had been built nearby, and as it turns out, the Civic Auditorium wasn't long for this world. The city had apparently always planned to keep it open, but rotting support columns and a noticeable dip in the arena floor in 2017 brought an official condemnation from the building inspector, and with the repair quote too high to be worth saving, the Auditorium was demolished in May 2018.