Paramount Fine Foods Centre facts for kids
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 Paramount Fine Foods Centre
Paramount Fine Foods Centre
Location in Ontario##Location in Canada
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| Former names | Hershey Centre (1998–2018) |
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| Address | 5500/5600 Rose Cherry Place |
| Location | Mississauga, Ontario |
| Coordinates | 43°37′56″N 79°39′13″W / 43.6323°N 79.6535°W |
| Owner | City of Mississauga |
| Operator | City of Mississauga |
| Capacity | Basketball 5,400 Hockey: 5,612 (5,420 seated) Concerts: 7,000 |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | January 1998 |
| Opened | October 12, 1998 |
| Construction cost | C$22 million ($34.1 million in 2021 dollars ) |
| Architect | Parkin/Zawadzki & Armin Stevens Architects, A Joint Venture |
| Services engineer | The Mitchell Partnership |
| General contractor | PCL Constructors Canada Inc. |
| Tenants | |
| Canada World Kabaddi Cup (1998–2012) Mississauga IceDogs (OHL) (1998–2007) Toronto ThunderHawks (NPSL) (2000–2001) Mississauga St. Michael's Majors (OHL) (2007–2012) Toronto Croatia (CSL) (2007–2010) Mississauga Eagles FC (CSL) (2011–2013) Toronto Triumph (LFL Canada) (2012) Mississauga Steelheads (OHL) (2012–present) Mississauga Power (NBL Canada) (2013–2015) 2015 Pan American Games 2015 Parapan American Games Raptors 905 (NBA G League) (2015–present) Mississauga MetroStars (MASL) (2018–2019) |
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The Paramount Fine Foods Centre is a big sports and entertainment building in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada. It used to be called the Hershey Centre. It got its new name on July 1, 2018, after a restaurant chain called Paramount Fine Foods bought the naming rights.
Contents
A Look Back: History of the Centre
The centre first opened in 1998 as the Hershey Centre. It's located on Rose Cherry Place. This street was named after the wife of Don Cherry, who started the Mississauga IceDogs hockey team. The closest main roads are Kennedy Road and Matheson Boulevard East.
In 2007, a new sports area called SportZone opened next to the main building. It has an indoor soccer field, a basketball court, a gymnastics area, and two outdoor soccer fields.
The Paramount Fine Foods Centre is currently home to two sports teams:
- The Mississauga Steelheads play ice hockey here in the Ontario Hockey League.
- The Raptors 905 play basketball here in the NBA G League.
Many other teams have played here in the past, including:
- The Mississauga IceDogs (ice hockey) from 1998 to 2007.
- The Mississauga Power (basketball) from 2011 to 2015.
- The Toronto ThunderHawks (soccer) from 2000 to 2001.
- The Mississauga MetroStars (indoor soccer) from 2018 to 2019.
The centre has also hosted many famous music artists. Some of these include The Tragically Hip, Green Day, The White Stripes, and Joker Xue.
Exciting Events and Sports
Ice Hockey Action
The centre has been the home for Mississauga's OHL hockey teams since it opened. It has also hosted several big hockey events:
- In 2000, it hosted the OHL All-Star Classic. This is a game where the best players from the league play against each other.
- Also in 2000, it hosted the IIHF Women's World Hockey Championship. This is a major international tournament for women's hockey.
- The J. Ross Robertson Cup finals, which is the OHL championship series, were held here in 2004, 2011, and 2017.
- In May 2011, the Mississauga St. Michael's Majors hosted the 2011 Memorial Cup. This is one of the biggest junior hockey tournaments in Canada. The Saint John Sea Dogs won against Mississauga in the final game.
Basketball Games
The National Basketball League of Canada announced that the Oshawa Power basketball team would move to Mississauga. They became the Mississauga Power and started playing at the Hershey Centre in the 2013–14 season.
The Toronto Raptors also announced a new team for the NBA Development League. This team, called the Raptors 905, started playing in Mississauga in the 2015–16 season. The Raptors 905 took over from the Mississauga Power, and the NBLC team stopped playing. In 2017 and 2018, the Raptors 905 hosted the NBA G League Showcase and the G League Finals at the arena.
Graceful Figure Skating
The arena has hosted the Skate Canada International figure skating competition several times. This event is part of the ISU Grand Prix of Figure Skating series. It was held here in 2000, 2003, 2011, and 2016.
It also hosted the Canadian Figure Skating Championships for the first time in 2013. It hosted them again in 2020.
Big Games: Pan Am and Parapan Am 2015
During the 2015 Pan American Games, the centre was temporarily called the Mississauga Sports Centre. It hosted four combat sports: judo, karate, taekwondo, and wrestling.
For the 2015 Parapan American Games, it hosted sports for athletes with disabilities. These included goalball, powerlifting, and the first-ever wheelchair rugby competition at these games.
Other Fun Events
The centre has also hosted many other exciting events:
- It was the place for the first Heritage Cup in 2002. This is an international indoor lacrosse tournament.
- The North American Roller Hockey Championships finals were held here in July 2006, 2009, and 2013.
- The centre hosted the 2009 World Cup of Curling.
- It has also hosted the FIRST Robotics Competition. This is a fun international competition where high school students build and program robots.
- On September 22, 2000, it was the site of the only ECW show in Canada.
Outdoor Fields: Mississauga and Iceland
The area around the Paramount Fine Foods Centre also has two outdoor sports fields. These are known as the Mississauga Fields and Iceland Fields.
