[esquire]

As a somewhat impartial observer here, I'll chime in and say that in my opinion, Moncton's new rink can legitimately be called the premiere arena in Atlantic Canada, "premiere" meaning most impressive.

Facility size factors into being "premiere", but it's not the be all and end all. The dumpy old Cleveland Stadium was massive, but by the end of its days in the 1990s, no one would have called it premiere at anything. Scotiabank Centre is clearly not as bad as the old Cleveland Stadium was, but there's no question that it's an older building and not really cutting edge.

On the other hand, Moncton's rink, while not as big as Scotiabank Centre (8,500 vs. 11,000), is in the same general size range and clearly has the latest bells and whistles. It's in a much smaller market which will of course limit the number of events it pulls in despite being a top-notch venue. If you put the venues up against each other head to head, Moncton takes it. But it's not really a huge victory (if you want to put it in those terms) considering that Halifax has benefitted from its venue for 40 years and is probably going to start planning for a successor not long after Moncton's venue opens its doors.