Oceanside Place Arena
ADDRESS
1767 Old Island Hwy,
Victoria, BC V9B 1J1
YEAR BUILT - 2003
SEATING CAPACITY - 1,000
DESCRIPTION
Oceanside Place has two NHL regulation-size ice sheets which are named after two famous Parksville residents - Victor Kratz and Howie Meeker.
The Victor Kraatz Arena has seating for 200 people. The Howie Meeker Arena has a capacity of 1,000 and home to the Oceanside Generals of the Vancouver Island Junior Hockey League (VIJHL)
Victor Kraatz, along with partner Shae Lynne Bourne, won 10 Senior National Ice Dance titles and the 2003 World Ice Dance Championship. Kraatz’s family moved to Vancouver Island from Switzerland when he was a child and started skating in Parksville.
Howie Meeker is a longtime resident of Parksville. He is a Hockey Hall of Fame broadcaster, four-time Stanley Cup Champion, 1946-47 NHL rookie of the year and played eight seasons for the Toronto Maple Leafs. After his playing days, Meeker had a thirty-year career as an analyst on Hockey Night in Canada and TSN. “Howie Meeker's Hockey School” was broadcast on CBC from 1973 to 1977 and he ran youth hockey schools on Vancouver Island for many years.
Oceanside Generals
The Oceanside Generals joined the league in 1990 as an expansion team and have won the league championship (Brent Patterson Memorial Trophy) three times - 1992, 1997 and 2009.
Generals Alumni
Kelowna Rockets head coach Kris Mallette played for the Generals in the mid-1990s. He went on from the Generals to spend four years in the Western Hockey League with the Kelowna Rockets and the Moose Jaw Warriors. In 1997 he was a third-round draft by the Philadelphia Flyers and played professional hockey until 2009.
British Columbia Hockey League
On November 19, 2019, 950 fans watched the Prince George Spruce Kings defeat the Alberni Valley Bulldogs 4-3 at Oceanside Place. The Alberni Valley Bulldogs had to postpone and move a couple of their regular-season games because their home rink at the Port Alberni Multiplex was shut down to repair an ammonia link.
Vancouver Canucks
The Vancouver Canucks held their 1989 training camp in Parksville. The biggest story of the camp was the Canucks debut of Igor Larionov. A star with Central Red Army, he was one of the first Russians allowed to play in the NHL.
Grant Fuhr
In an exhibition game held on September 15, 1979, the Victoria Cougars and the New Westminster Bruins skated to a 3-3 tie. The sell-out crowd of over 2,000 at the old Parksville Arena witnessed sixteen-year-old goaltender Grant Fuhr make his first start for the Cougars.