Former names | Boston Arena |
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Location | 238 St. Botolph Street, Boston, Massachusetts |
Coordinates | 42°20′28″N 71°5′4″W / 42.34111°N 71.08444°WCoordinates: 42°20′28″N 71°5′4″W / 42.34111°N 71.08444°W |
Owner | Northeastern University |
Operator | Northeastern University |
Capacity | Ice Hockey: 6,000 Basketball: 6,000 Concerts: 6,300 |
Surface | 200 x 90 ft (hockey) |
Construction | |
Broke ground | October 11, 1909 |
Opened | 1910 |
Tenants | |
Northeastern Huskies (Hockey East, CAA) (1930–present) WIT Leopards (ECAC) (1992–present) Boston Bruins (NHL) (1924–1928) Boston Tigers/Cubs (CAHL) (1926–1936) Boston Olympics (EAHL/QSHL) (1940–1952) Boston Celtics (NBA) (1946–1955) New England Whalers (WHA) (1972–1973) |
Matthews Arena, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is a basketball and ice hockey arena. Renovated several times, it is the oldest indoor ice hockey arena still being used for hockey — and is the oldest multi-purpose athletic building still in use in the world. It opened in 1910 on what is now the east end of Northeastern University's campus, and is currently owned by the university. It is the original home of the National Hockey League (NHL) Boston Bruins — the only team of the NHL's Original Six whose original home arena still exists for the sport of ice hockey at any level of competition — and the WHA New England Whalers (now the NHL Carolina Hurricanes), as well as the secondary home of the NBA Boston Celtics.
Originally named Boston Arena, the arena opened on April 16, 1910 for an ice show. The first games of professional ice hockey took place in March 1911 when a two-game $2,500 competition between two NHA teams, the Montreal Wanderers and the Ottawa Senators took place. As the successor NHL's first United States-located professional ice hockey franchise, on December 1, 1924, the Boston Bruins played their first-ever NHL regular season game at the Arena, leaving in 1928 when the Boston Garden was built. The Boston Celtics played their first game at the Arena in 1946, and played at the Arena until 1955. The WHA's New England Whalers played their first season at the Arena from 1972 until 1973.
Matthews is where the hockey programs of Boston College, Boston University, Harvard, MIT, Northeastern University, Tufts University and Wentworth Institute of Technology all began; in particular, it housed the Boston University hockey team until 1971, when Walter Brown Arena was built.