Sarnia Arena is now officially known as the Pat Stapleton Arena.
A special ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony was held Saturday at the downtown rink, affectionately known as the Brock St. Barn.
Stapleton, a Sarnia born hockey star, began his junior career in Sarnia with the Legionnaires, leading the team to two Western Jr. ‘B’ championships and one Sutherland Cup. He passed away in April of 2020.
Pat's wife Jackie and his son Mike were among the family members on hand for the ceremony.
Pat Stapleton Arena (Blackburn Media Photo by Josh Boyce)
Mike addressed the dozens of people in the crowd.
"As a family, we're deeply honoured to have a rink named after dad," said Mike Stapleton. "I'm sure he's looking down from hockey heaven pretty happy. There's a lot of people to thank. It started out with a story by Brian Keelan in First Monday here in Sarnia and was grabbed by David Greenwood. There are a lot of people to thank that put a lot of time into this. Our family is deeply in gratitude to you for all of the support throughout this. I can't thank you all enough for coming out on a beautiful Saturday to open the rink. It's an honour to have a rink named forever (for Pat) that these kids and many other kids will play in, something that we did growing up and that dad did growing up."
Keelan shared letters from Stapleton's former coach Harry Sinden, along with teammates from the 1972 Summit Series including Dennis Hull, Ken Dryden and Ron Ellis.
The arena also now bares a giant 15 foot graphic of Pat Stapleton on the front, done by local artist Mike Slotwinski.
Stapleton played 10 seasons in the NHL as a defenceman, eight with the Chicago Blackhawks and two with the Boston Bruins, scoring 43 goals and 294 assists in 635 games.
He was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame in 2005.
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