The Moose Jaw Civic Center in Moose Jaw Saskatchewan Canada affectionately known as The Crushed Can, has been torn down after 53 years. The award winning hockey arena’s roof was suspended by cables giving it a curved suspension ceiling spanning 192 feet.
Architect Joseph Pettick and Vancouver structural engineer J.L. Miller designed the arena. The building won the Massey Medal for architecture for the innovative cable roof structure giving the building its unique shape. Built in 1959 the arena was nicknamed the crushed can due to the curved appearance of the building.
Iconic Sloping Roof
The roof sloped to within 12 feet at the center of the arena. Roof problems were visible when dripping water from the leaking roof would freeze it would be 1-2 inches in front of the net according to the maintenance man.
The arena has been criticized as being too small and not up to the Moose Jaw Warrior’s hockey team standards.
Saskatchewan City had been gutting the building while waiting to see if the private sector would come through with a compelling new use or demolition of the iconic arena. When no private investors agreed to preserve the building and complete needed roof repairs, demolition plans began.
To demolish the building the crew used jackhammers at the structure and bottom so the building would lose integrity and fall in on itself. They were able to save 15,000 cubic yards of concrete to be crushed and reused for other projects.
A new 4,367 seat hockey arena was built at Mosaic Place in Downtown Saskatchewan for the Moose Jaw Warriors.
