Cambria County War Memorial Arena
Encyclopedia
The Cambria County War Memorial Arena is a 4,000-seat multi-purpose arena
in Johnstown, Pennsylvania
that is managed by SMG Entertainment. It was built in 1950, for the Johnstown Jets
of the Eastern Hockey League
. The film Slap Shot
, based on the Jets, was filmed in this arena. The arena was the home of the Johnstown Chiefs
(Ice hockey
) for 22 years, but they were relocated in 2010 to Greenville, South Carolina
. A banner was hung at the final home game on April 4, 2010 stating "The Greatest Fans in Hockey." It is now the alternate venue of the Wheeling Nailers
. The arena has been home to the Johnstown Generals of the UIFL
since the league's ignaugural season in 2011.
, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
and Senator John Edwards
. Performances at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena have included recording artists Alice Cooper
, Blue Oyster Cult
, Brad Paisley
, 98 Degrees
, Matchbox Twenty
, Brooks & Dunn
, Bruce Springsteen
, Josh Turner
, Kenny Rogers
, LeAnn Rimes
, Lonestar
, Martina McBride
, MercyMe
, Meredith Andrews
, Miranda Lambert
, Reba McEntire
, Rebecca Lynn Howard
, Sara Evans
, REO Speedwagon
, Kid Rock
, Rob Zombie
, Skillet
, Styx
, TobyMac
, Trace Adkins
and Willie Nelson
. Other events have included Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
, Disney On Ice
, Sesame Street Live
, Harlem Globetrotters
, comedy shows featuring Larry the Cable Guy
and Jeff Dunham
as well as WWE SmackDown Wrestling.
for their inaugural season. The name for the team was released via a press conference at the War Memorial on July 29, 2010. The Johnstown Generals are be the 4th team to call the War Memorial their home.
The other primary tenant at the arena, the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
Icecats hockey team, is currently the longest-serving tenant at the arena, having played at the arena since 2009.
With the Johnstown Chiefs relocation, the Wheeling Nailers
played one pre-season game and ten regular season games in the Arena during the 2010-11 ECHL
season to bring hockey back to the fans in Johnstown. The rest of their games were be played in Wesbanco Arena
. The Nailers are playing ten more games at the Arena during the 2011-12 ECHL season.
The Johnstown Wings, a junior A hockey team, will once again play hockey in the area. The Continental Junior Hockey League announced the team's name. Other teams in the league are located in Erie, PA
, Indiana, PA, Syracuse, NY and Niagara, Ontario.
The Wings will play at the arena's sister facility, the North Central Recreation Center in Ebensburg, Pennsylvania
.
Arena
An arena is an enclosed area, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theater, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators. The key feature of an arena is that the event space is the...
in Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Johnstown, Pennsylvania
Johnstown is a city in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States, west-southwest of Altoona, Pennsylvania and east of Pittsburgh. The population was 20,978 at the 2010 census. It is the principal city of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Cambria County...
that is managed by SMG Entertainment. It was built in 1950, for the Johnstown Jets
Johnstown Jets
The Johnstown Jets were a professional ice hockey team from Johnstown, Pennsylvania. The Jets were founded in the Eastern Amateur Hockey League for the 1950–51 season, playing at the newly constructed Cambria County War Memorial Arena...
of the Eastern Hockey League
Eastern Hockey League
-Eastern Amateur Hockey League :The league was founded in 1933 as the Eastern Amateur Hockey League . The league was founded by Thomas Lockhart, who served as its commissioner from 1933 to 1972...
. The film Slap Shot
Slap Shot (film)
Slap Shot is a 1977 film comedy starring Paul Newman and Michael Ontkean directed by George Roy Hill. It depicts a minor league hockey team that resorts to violent play to gain popularity in a declining factory town.- Plot :...
, based on the Jets, was filmed in this arena. The arena was the home of the Johnstown Chiefs
Johnstown Chiefs
The Johnstown Chiefs were a minor league ice hockey team located in Johnstown, Pennsylvania that played in the ECHL. The team was founded in 1988 in the All-American Hockey League, and moved to the East Coast Hockey League when that league was formed...
(Ice hockey
Ice hockey
Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...
) for 22 years, but they were relocated in 2010 to Greenville, South Carolina
Greenville, South Carolina
-Law and government:The city of Greenville adopted the Council-Manager form of municipal government in 1976.-History:The area was part of the Cherokee Nation's protected grounds after the Treaty of 1763, which ended the French and Indian War. No White man was allowed to enter, though some families...
. A banner was hung at the final home game on April 4, 2010 stating "The Greatest Fans in Hockey." It is now the alternate venue of the Wheeling Nailers
Wheeling Nailers
The Wheeling Nailers are an ECHL ice hockey team based in Wheeling, West Virginia. They are the ECHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Montreal Canadiens of the NHL and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and the Hamilton Bulldogs of the AHL....
. The arena has been home to the Johnstown Generals of the UIFL
Ultimate Indoor Football League
The Ultimate Indoor Football League is a regional professional indoor football league that began its inaugural season on February 18, 2011.-History:...
since the league's ignaugural season in 2011.
Events
The arena plays host to a variety of events throughout the year. Showcase For Commerce, held annually, is one of the largest business and industry trade shows in the nation and a nationally renowned defense contracting exhibition. Many local high schools and youth leagues also use the arena for their games. The arena hosts the annual PIAA Southwest Regional Wrestling Tournament, the Pennsylvania Cheerleading Championships, and basketball championship games for PIAA District 6 and the Laurel Highlands Athletic Conference. The arena has featured political rallies with President George W. BushGeorge W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin
Sarah Palin
Sarah Louise Palin is an American politician, commentator and author. As the Republican Party nominee for Vice President in the 2008 presidential election, she was the first Alaskan on the national ticket of a major party and first Republican woman nominated for the vice-presidency.She was...
and Senator John Edwards
John Edwards
Johnny Reid "John" Edwards is an American politician, who served as a U.S. Senator from North Carolina. He was the Democratic nominee for Vice President in 2004, and was a candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and 2008.He defeated incumbent Republican Lauch Faircloth in...
. Performances at the Cambria County War Memorial Arena have included recording artists Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper
Alice Cooper is an American rock singer, songwriter and musician whose career spans more than four decades...
, Blue Oyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult
Blue Öyster Cult, often abbreviated BÖC, is an American rock band, most of whose members first came together in Long Island, NY in 1967 as the band Soft White Underbelly...
, Brad Paisley
Brad Paisley
Brad Douglas Paisley is an American singer-songwriter and musician. His style crosses between traditional country music and Southern rock, and his songs are frequently laced with humor and pop culture references....
, 98 Degrees
98 Degrees
98 Degrees is an American adult contemporary boy band consisting of four vocalists: brothers Nick and Drew Lachey, Justin Jeffre, and Jeff Timmons. The group was formed by Timmons in Los Angeles, California....
, Matchbox Twenty
Matchbox Twenty
Matchbox Twenty is an American rock band, formed in Orlando, Florida in 1995...
, Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn
Brooks & Dunn was an American country music duo consisting of Kix Brooks and Ronnie Dunn, who were both vocalists and songwriters. They were paired by record producer Tim DuBois in 1990. Before the duo's foundation, both members of the duo were solo recording artists...
, Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
, Josh Turner
Josh Turner
Joshua Otis "Josh" Turner is a country music singer and actor signed to MCA Nashville Records in 2003, Turner has released four studio albums for the label. The first of these was 2003's Long Black Train, whose title track was his breakthrough single release...
, Kenny Rogers
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Donald "Kenny" Rogers is an American singer-songwriter, photographer, record producer, actor, and entrepreneur...
, LeAnn Rimes
LeAnn Rimes
LeAnn Rimes is an American country/pop singer. She is known for her rich vocals and her rise to fame as an eight-year-old champion on the original Ed McMahon version of Star Search, followed by the release of the Patsy Cline-intended single "Blue" when Rimes was only age 13, resulting in her...
, Lonestar
Lonestar
Lonestar is an American country music group consisting of Richie McDonald , Michael Britt , Keech Rainwater , Dean Sams , and Michael Hill . McDonald left the band in November 2007 for a solo career before returning in 2011...
, Martina McBride
Martina McBride
Martina McBride is an American country music singer and songwriter. McBride has been called the "Céline Dion of Country Music" for her big-voiced ballads and soprano range....
, MercyMe
MercyMe
MercyMe is an American Christian rock band founded in Greenville, Texas. The band consists of vocalist Bart Millard, keyboardist James Bryson, percussionist Robby Shaffer, bassist Nathan Cochran and guitarists Michael Scheuchzer and Barry Graul....
, Meredith Andrews
Meredith Andrews
Meredith Sooter is a Dove Award winning Contemporary Christian music artist and worship leader.-Childhood:Andrews grew up in Wilson, NC, where she started singing when she was six years old. She attended Wilson Christian Academy, where she graduated. Andrews later attended college at Liberty...
, Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert
Miranda Lambert is an American country music artist who gained fame as a finalist on the 2003 season of Nashville Star, where she finished in third place and later signed to Epic Records. Lambert made her debut with the release of "Me and Charlie Talking", the first single from her 2005 debut...
, Reba McEntire
Reba McEntire
Reba Nell McEntire is an American country music artist and actress. She began her career in the music industry as a high school student singing in the Kiowa High School band , on local radio shows with her siblings, and at rodeos. As a solo act, she was invited to perform at a rodeo in Oklahoma...
, Rebecca Lynn Howard
Rebecca Lynn Howard
Rebecca Lynn Howard is an American country music artist. She has charted seven singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, and has released three studio albums...
, Sara Evans
Sara Evans
Sara Lynn Evans is an American country singer and songwriter.Evans was one of the few traditional-styled singers to emerge from Nashville in the late 1990s, according to Allmusic. Since emerging in the late 1990s, Evans has made five No. 1 Country hits and Gold and Platinum-certified albums by...
, REO Speedwagon
REO Speedwagon
REO Speedwagon is an American rock band. Formed in 1967, the band grew in popularity during the 1970s and peaked in the early 1980s. Hi Infidelity is the group's most commercially successful album, selling over ten million copies and charting four Top 40 hits in the US...
, Kid Rock
Kid Rock
Robert James "Bob" Ritchie , known by his stage name Kid Rock, is an American singer-songwriter, musician and rapper with five Grammy Awards nominations...
, Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie
Rob Zombie is an American musician, film director, screenwriter and film producer. He founded the heavy metal band White Zombie and has been nominated three times as a solo artist for the Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.Zombie has also established a career as a film director, creating the...
, Skillet
Skillet (band)
Skillet is an American Christian rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee in 1996. The band currently consists of husband and wife John and Korey Cooper , along with Jen Ledger and lead guitarist Seth Morrison. The band has released eight albums, two receiving Grammy nominations: Collide and Comatose...
, Styx
Styx (band)
Styx is an American rock band that became famous for its albums from the late 1970s and early 1980s. The Chicago band is known for melding the style of prog-rock with the power of hard rock guitar, strong ballads, and elements of American musical theater....
, TobyMac
TobyMac
Toby McKeehan , better known by his stage name TobyMac , is a Christian recording artist, music producer, hip-hop/pop artist, singer-songwriter, and author....
, Trace Adkins
Trace Adkins
Tracy Darrell "Trace" Adkins is an American country music artist. He made his debut in 1996 with the album Dreamin' Out Loud, released on Capitol Records Nashville. Since then, Adkins has released seven more studio albums and two Greatest Hits compilations...
and Willie Nelson
Willie Nelson
Willie Hugh Nelson is an American country music singer-songwriter, as well as an author, poet, actor, and activist. The critical success of the album Shotgun Willie , combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger and Stardust , made Nelson one of the most recognized...
. Other events have included Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus
Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus is an American circus company. The company was started when the circus created by James Anthony Bailey and P. T. Barnum was merged with the Ringling Brothers Circus. The Ringling brothers purchased the Barnum & Bailey Circus in 1907, but ran the circuses...
, Disney On Ice
Disney on Ice
Disney On Ice is a touring ice show produced by Feld Entertainment under agreement with The Walt Disney Company. Aimed primarily at children, the shows feature figure skaters dressed as Disney cartoon characters in performances that each derive their music and plot from elements collected from...
, Sesame Street Live
Sesame Street Live
Sesame Street Live is the live touring show based on the children's television show Sesame Street.Produced by Minneapolis-based VEE Corporation, the show opened on September 17, 1980, with a production of Sesame Street Live "Missing Bird Mystery" playing at the Met Center in Bloomington, Minnesota...
, Harlem Globetrotters
Harlem Globetrotters
The Harlem Globetrotters are an exhibition basketball team that combines athleticism, theater and comedy. The executive offices for the team are currently in downtown Phoenix, Arizona; the team is owned by Shamrock Holdings, which oversees the various investments of the Roy E. Disney family.Over...
, comedy shows featuring Larry the Cable Guy
Larry the Cable Guy
Daniel Lawrence Whitney , better known by his stage name and character Larry the Cable Guy, is an American comedian, actor, and former radio personality....
and Jeff Dunham
Jeff Dunham
Jeff Dunham is an American ventriloquist and stand-up comedian who has also appeared on numerous television shows, including Late Show with David Letterman, Comedy Central Presents, The Tonight Show and Sonny With a Chance...
as well as WWE SmackDown Wrestling.
Teams
The Tribune-Democrat announced in May of 2010 that the War Memorial would be the home of a team playing in the Ultimate Indoor Football LeagueUltimate Indoor Football League
The Ultimate Indoor Football League is a regional professional indoor football league that began its inaugural season on February 18, 2011.-History:...
for their inaugural season. The name for the team was released via a press conference at the War Memorial on July 29, 2010. The Johnstown Generals are be the 4th team to call the War Memorial their home.
The other primary tenant at the arena, the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown
University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, also known as UPJ or Pitt-Johnstown, is a four-year, degree-granting regional campus of the University of Pittsburgh. The university is located in Richland Township, a suburban area of Johnstown, Pennsylvania and was founded in 1927 as one of the first...
Icecats hockey team, is currently the longest-serving tenant at the arena, having played at the arena since 2009.
With the Johnstown Chiefs relocation, the Wheeling Nailers
Wheeling Nailers
The Wheeling Nailers are an ECHL ice hockey team based in Wheeling, West Virginia. They are the ECHL affiliate of the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Montreal Canadiens of the NHL and the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins and the Hamilton Bulldogs of the AHL....
played one pre-season game and ten regular season games in the Arena during the 2010-11 ECHL
ECHL
The ECHL is a mid-level professional ice hockey league based in Princeton, New Jersey with teams scattered across the United States...
season to bring hockey back to the fans in Johnstown. The rest of their games were be played in Wesbanco Arena
WesBanco Arena
WesBanco Arena is a multi-purpose arena, in Wheeling, West Virginia. It was built in 1977 at a cost of $7 million. It is home to the Wheeling Nailers ice hockey team and the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference wrestling tournament.It can also be used for conventions, trade shows, concerts, banquets...
. The Nailers are playing ten more games at the Arena during the 2011-12 ECHL season.
The Johnstown Wings, a junior A hockey team, will once again play hockey in the area. The Continental Junior Hockey League announced the team's name. Other teams in the league are located in Erie, PA
Erie, Pennsylvania
Erie is a city located in northwestern Pennsylvania in the United States. Named for the lake and the Native American tribe that resided along its southern shore, Erie is the state's fourth-largest city , with a population of 102,000...
, Indiana, PA, Syracuse, NY and Niagara, Ontario.
The Wings will play at the arena's sister facility, the North Central Recreation Center in Ebensburg, Pennsylvania
Ebensburg, Pennsylvania
Ebensburg is a borough located in, and is the seat of, Cambria County, Pennsylvania, west of Altoona and surrounded by Cambria Township. It is situated in the Alleghenies about 2025 feet above sea level. Ebensburg is located in a rich bituminous coal region. In the past, saw mills, tanneries,...
.