Photos From A Final Visit To Key Arena

A fresh sheet of ice at the KeyArena. Don't let appearances fool you though. Any player will tell you it was one of the worst ice surfaces in the WHL.

This is a picture high above the net at the end of the ice that the T-Birds defend in the 1st and 3rd periods. For T-Bird games the seats are pulled back to accommodate this end of the ice. While seats are situated from this vantage point where the picture was taken, they are not available for public use during T-Birds games. Sitting here would be hockey suicide, as their is no netting to save your head or face from being hit by a stray puck.

This is outside the T-Birds dressing room at the KeyArena. I've been inside the dressing room before and it is nothing to write home about. I am sure the T-Birds will have a much better set-up in their new digs in Kent.

This is a picture underneath the grandstands at the Key. This is where all of the court side chairs and hoops were stashed when the Sonics weren't playing and the T-Birds were the focal point..

This is just one of the dressing rooms at the Key. This one was used primarily for basketball, but the visitors dressing room wasn't much different.

I had to take a picture of the shower stall because of the height of the shower head. The picture doesn't do justice to it's height, but at 5'9 the water nob is at my throat. I would have to leap into the air to even move the shower head. These showers were designed specifically for NBA players obviously, but I am sure 6'7 Tyler Myers is in heaven every time he used the shower at the Key.

Over my 14 seasons in the WHL, this sign tells you where to enter the KeyArena. The majority of the signs at the 'Key' were in green and yellow, the team colours of the NBA's Seattle Sonics. The Sonics no longer play in the building either after moving to Oklahoma City.