Winter Sports Arena

The Winter Sports Arena was an indoor arena located in Crookston, Minnesota. The arena opened in 1937 as a Works Progress Administration project during the Dreat Depression. The arena was built with an undersized sheet of ice at 80' x 180' and sat 2,500 upon opening but was reduced to 700 when locker rooms were added.. The arena was a natural ice facility until 1971. Crookston would get an addition sheet of ice when the Crookston Civic Arena opened in 1978.
Both arenas closed after the 2009-2010 playing season and were demolished in March of 2011.
The arenas were replaced by a three sheet facility called the Crookston Sports Center which opened in 2009. Despite the cancellation of the Golden Eagles varsity hockey program with the end of the 2008-09 season the university honored its' financial commitment to building the new facility.
The arena hosted the United States National Senior Hockey Championships in 1951 when the hometown Crookston Pirates defeated the New York Metropolitans to win the US Senior championship.
==Links==
Vintage Minnesota website page on Crookston's arenas
Category:Indoor ice hockey venues in Minnesota