Final puck to drop at Gatineau's Robert Guertin arena

When the doors of the Robert Guertin arena in Gatineau, Que., are locked at day's end on Saturday, it will mark the end of an era.

Soon all that will remain of the 64-year-old arena nicknamed "The Bob" and located in downtown Hull will be rubble and memories.

"It's been my second home," said Serge Hach, equipment manager for theGatineau Olympiques junior hockey team.

"My wife would tell me it's my first home."

The QMJHL clubwill soon relocate to the newly built Centre Slush Puppie in the city's east end. Saturday's game will be the last at the arena, which first opened in 1957.

Conversations about building a new arena first croppedup in the early 2000s. Although some may have grown sick of the seemingly never-ending back-and-forth, Hach never lost his love for the aging hockey arena.

Games in the Robert-Guretin Arenawere intimate affairs, he told CBC Radio's In Town and Out, withhometownand visiting fans packed in tight.

In earlierdays, Hach said, plexiglasswasn'tinstalled behind the benches, so fans would often reachout to touch the coaches or even strikeup a conversation mid-game.

"When things went well, let me tell you, we definitely heard them. They're literally in our ear," Hach said. "But when it went wrong, let's just say we also heard them."

The4,000-seat arenawasn't just for hockey games either, with the likes of Billy Ray Cyrus, Pearl Jam, Bryan Adams and the Backstreet Boys all performing there.

Intrinsic part of Hull's past

Zamboni driver and long-time employee Luc Clment has many fond, occasionally strangerecollectionsfrom his decades of work at the rink.

He recalled how wrestlers once graced the arena's restaurant, with cases of beer often set aside forindividual athletes. After the Pearl Jam concert, cleaning staff found a set of cow's eyes a discovery that still remains a mystery to him.

Clment said the building's history is intrinsically linked with Hull'spast, as well as many of his own childhood memories.

"All the history in this building is very, very, very, very special," he said.

And whileHach and Clmentare no strangers to contact sports, theysay demolition day will leave a bruise.

"I'm probably not going to want to be around," Hach said. "I think it's going to somewhat bother me."