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The crown jewels of Pointe-Claire are celebrating their 60th anniversary this year, and they are sparkling as brightly as ever.

The Bob Birnie Arena and Malcolm Knox Aquatic Centre weren’t so named when they opened their doors to the public in October 1965. Nor, at the time, did they house two sheets of ice and two 50-metre pools.

But differences and growth aside, the adjacent facilities have been a constant in the community, a hugely popular gathering place for residents over six decades – important, influential buildings in countless lives.

I have a great sentimental attachment to both the arena and aquatic complex, personally and professionally. As they turn their Maywood and Douglas Shand avenues corner into their seventh decade of vital life, I offer these words as a bit of a love letter to facilities that are much more to me than brick and mortar.

At age 8, I came through the arena doors for the first time, for the gala opening in October 1965, my late father having been invited by Mayor Arthur Séguin to the ribbon-cutting for the glittering new Pointe-Claire Recreation Centre.

It is here, as a journalist, that I reported on my first hockey game in the autumn of 1976, covering the West Island Flyers of the Metro Junior B League.

It is here in the late 1980s that, for one winter, I coached a team of novice-aged players. Never good enough in my youth to be on one of the teams that played at the arena – I was a weak-ankled Cedar Park Heights house league kid through and through.

About 25 years ago, I was on the cement floor of this arena to address a graduating class of my alma mater, John Rennie High School, which is a few rink lengths to the northwest. I recall John Rennie’s winter carnival including skating on this sheet of ice – now two, with the addition of the annex.

Under this warm wood ceiling, I have many times covered the world-famous Pointe-Claire Oldtimers Tournament, a hugely important fundraiser for myriad charitable causes on the West Island, and reported on Montreal Canadiens alumni in exhibition games.

The recreation centre has been a cornerstone in Pointe-Claire since its 1965 birth. If you were a hockey player, the arena – in 2000 renamed for long-time city councillor Bob Birnie – was the place to be. If you were a swimmer or diver, the centrepiece was the adjacent aquatic centre, Canada’s first indoor 50-metre pool and just the fourth in North America, which in 2005 was renamed for visionary former Mayor Malcolm Knox.

In 2011, a second pool – a state-of-the-art 10-lane, 50-metre facility – was named for aquatics pioneer and Pointe-Claire icon George Gate, whose innovative coaching and program development made Pointe-Claire a world power in swimming and diving and a global leader in aquatic teaching and safety.

My journalism career began at Pointe-Claire’s weekly News & Chronicle in January 1976 as the newspaper’s sports editor, and it was at the pool that I spent my first months as a writer, profiling a handful of Pointe-Claire swimmers and divers who soon would represent Canada in the 1976 Montreal Olympics. One of my first feature interviews was a profile of George Gate, the interview conducted in his pool office. George, who became a dear friend, died in 2014.

Imagine, six months into my career, I was covering the Olympics; the bruises from the pinch-me moments have almost healed. I reported on the nine Pointe-Claire-based swimmers and divers who represented Canada in 1976; in subsequent years, as a reporter and later as a Team Canada media attaché at many global events, I would write about the performances and, more importantly, the lives of dozens more who, with grace and class, wore the red and white of our country into international waters.

Almost a half-century later, I’m a regular in the weight room of the aquatic centre, and I will almost always detour past the men’s locker room to walk the original pool’s deck, pausing to remember.

Next door, I often use the arena as a backdrop for video interviews done on behalf of the NHL, my employer since 2016.

The Pointe-Claire Recreation Centre wasn’t an easy sell to the community; Mayor Arthur Séguin’s initial proposal rejected by the population in a first referendum because the $1.3-million project would increase taxes.

But with promised government contributions, it went through a second time in June 1964, citizens giving the municipality the go-ahead to borrow $920,000 with an additional $380,000 coming via Ottawa and Quebec grants.

The arena would cost an estimated $440,000, the pool between $356,000 and $410,000, with infrastructure and related costs consuming the balance.

Tenders were put out in 1964; architecture firm G.R. Beatson and Associates of Calgary was hired for the project, Montreal’s R.V. Chadwick and G.B. Pope serving as associates. Toronto engineers Haddin, Davis and Brown Co. Ltd. completed the team.

Paul Bibeault was named manager of the complex in late December 1964, the first of many wonderful hockey connections to the facility. Bibeault was married to Evelyn Selke, the daughter of Toronto Maple Leafs, then Canadiens general manager Frank Selke Sr. He had met his future wife when she was working as a switchboard operator at Maple Leaf Gardens.

Bibeault, a goaltender, played for the Canadiens from 1940 to 1943 for coach Dick Irvin Sr. Irvin’s son, Dick Jr., has been a long-time Pointe-Claire resident and has sat in the stands over the years to watch his son and grandson play hockey and to attend Oldtimers tournaments.

The arena and pool were built efficiently and quickly, a July 1965 story in the Montreal Gazette showing Bibeault, architect D.W. Whiteside, and Pointe-Claire City Manager Oliver Nicholson at the pool, still under construction, the diving towers scaffolding in the background.

In mid-October came a story saying the complex was ready for its ribbon-cutting on Oct. 18, 1965, impressive details provided on the arena, pool, and the ultra-modern bells and whistles in both. Hundreds of youngsters would be invited to the gala opening.

If memory serves, I attended a cocktail (soft drink!) reception the night before with my father at the invitation of Mayor Séguin. Almost surely, I met Paul Bibeault that night, the first of countless NHL goaltenders with whom I’ve crossed paths since that day.

Five days after the arena’s Saturday opening, the defending Stanley Cup-champion Canadiens played the first “meaningful” game on the rink, wrapping up their 1965-66 training camp with an intra-squad game that was open to the public. Gump Worsley’s team lost to that of fellow goaler Charlie Hodge, and he paid off his $1 bets to opponents with a mountain of pennies dumped on a dressing-room table, sprinkled with honey.

“That’s what you call ‘sweet money,’” the Gumper cracked.

The recreation centre was an instant, massive hit with Pointe-Claire residents, the pool packed for lessons, programs, and competitions, the arena home to a busy schedule of games and community events. That hasn’t changed over six decades.

But the arena would be more than just a hockey rink.

On August 11, 1967 (are you sitting down?), Paul Revere and the Raiders, one of the world’s most popular rock ’n’ roll bands fronted by teen heartthrob Mark Lindsay, headlined a concert promoted by Top-40 radio station CFOX, may it rest in musical peace, its studios up the road at the corner of Hymus and St. John’s.

The show included Billy Joe Royal, who in 1965 had recorded the chart-topping “Down in the Boondocks.” The next day, the Raiders were headed for a look around Expo 67, Canada’s centennial-year exposition on Île Notre-Dame and Île Sainte-Hélène.

Curling took centre ice the following March: the world curling championship, for the Air Canada Silver Broom, was held over five days among eight nations. Canada’s rink, skipped by Ron Northcott, defeated Chuck Hay’s Scotland 8-6 in the championship game. The first rock was thrown by Canada’s Governor-General Roland Michener, an avid curler.

The Russians invaded, so to speak, in September 1974 for a practice during their Summit Series against a World Hockey Association all-star team. A crowd of about 1,500 – including Canadiens coach Scotty Bowman, taking notes – watched U.S.S.R. coach Boris Kulagin run his team through a spirited 90-minute workout featuring legends Vladislav Tretiak and Boris Mikhailov.

I have written many stories about arena events, notably the legendary Oldtimers tournament, which began in 1969. Through the years, it has included the participation of numerous former NHL players; among them, from the memory of tournament icon Jack Beaumont: Fleming Mackell, Don Awrey, John Ferguson, Norm Ullman, Bunny Larocque, Donald Audette, Robin Burns, and Leo Labine.

At various times, late Canadiens icons Maurice Richard and Jean Béliveau had come to the arena as honourary tournament presidents, spending a few hours with star-struck organizers and players.

In 2011, the Stanley Cup came to the arena for display in a parking-lot tent as part of Pointe-Claire’s 100th anniversary celebrations. Hockey’s holy grail drew a huge crowd, naturally.

I have always found my way back to both buildings. Sometimes, it’s just to walk in the arena door to breathe the chill air and quietly reflect. The aquatic centre remains an important part of my life, the chlorine its perfume.

I swear that some days I can still hear the great George Gate enthusiastically yelling, “Sprint! Sprint! Sprint!”, no matter that the age-group kids were barely off the blocks in a distance freestyle race.

There is great history within the walls of both buildings and fortunate are those of us who have memories to cherish. So, happy 60th birthday to the Bob Birnie and Malcolm Knox facilities. May you continue to age gracefully and serve a population for which you are a wonderful part of our lives.

Pointe-Claire resident Dave Stubbs is a columnist and historian for the National Hockey League. In January 2026, he will celebrate 50 years in sports journalism.