On October 21, 1967, one of the NHL’s six new expansion teams played its first home game when the Minnesota North Stars opened the Metropolitan Sports Center in Bloomington. The building that became known as simply The Met Center in later years was constructed in just one year for a cost of $5.4 million. Even accounting for inflation, that was a serious bargain.
Here is a photo that ran in some papers on October 20, showing the finishing touches being put on the ice and on the arena’s scoreboard. Also seen is the team’s first head coach, Wren Blair.
And here is the program from that night’s game, a 3-1 win over the Oakland Seals.
Sadly, both the North Stars and The Met Center are but memories in Minnesota. The team relocated to Dallas after the 1992-93 season, while the arena was demolished in December 1994.
