Stride Place

 Fitness Centre    Arenas   Walking Track    Schedules   Champs Corner  Keystone Skate Shop   Portage Terriers   Facility Hours


History & Large Events at the Stride Centre:

The Stride Place (formerly PCU Centre) officially opened February 27, 2010 with a pancake breakfast and ribbon cutting ceremony. The day was filled with tours, free skating and many different user groups utilizing the facility for the first time.
The first major event hosted by the PRRA was the 2010 Manitoba PowerSmart Winter Games starting March 7, 2010. The Stride Place was host to the Opening and Closing Ceremonies, Female and Male Hockey and Ringette.

The Stride Place is an 110,000 square-foot recreation facility located on the island in Portage la Prairie. It features the Stride Credit Union and Portage Mutual Arenas, the Shindleman Aquatic Centre, Viterra Fitness Centre, the Portage Rotary Multipurpose Room, Daily Graphic/Herald Leader Community Room, Century 21 Foxx Pool Party Room, Cobbe’s Board Room, Homestead Co-op Walking Track and the Portage Rotary Grand Hall. The Stride Place is a large community centre that has something for everyone.

The Stride Credit Union Arena is a NHL sized ice surface and home to the 2015 Junior “A” National Champions the Portage Terriers. The arena features bowl seating with 1,675 seats, additional standing room of 575, with a maximum capacity of 2,250 for sporting events and the Portage Toyota & RV Arena Suites which hold up to 60 people.
The arena is also home to many events during the summer months when the ice has been removed. These include Grad Ceremonies, Conventions, Manitoba Cheerleading Provincials, Rodeos, Roller Derby and the Shrine Circus to name a few. The Stride Credit Union Arena has appeared in four movies, Goon – released in theatres February 24, 2012, and three made for television movies, the Don Cherry Story: Keep Your Head Up, Kid; – released March 2012, Mr. Hockey: The Gordie Howe Story – released April 2013 and The Gabby Douglas Story – released February 2014.

The Portage Mutual Arena is a NHL sized ice surface that is used by many different youth and adult organizations. The Mutual Arena has seating for 300 spectators and standing room for 300 additional, including 100 upstairs and 200 at ice level.

The Shindleman Aquatic Centre is an indoor aquatic facility that features Manitoba’s Largest Indoor Wave Pool, a lazy river; tots pool area, beach and ramp entry, soft bottom floor in the beach area, a 212 foot waterslide that is self-contained and a 14 person whirlpool. The pool is operational for the majority of the year but is typically closed for summer maintenance in the month of August. The indoor pool has many different recreation opportunities for individuals and families of all ages. These include public swimming, swimming lessons, fitness swims, Aquafit and weekly rental opportunities. The PRRA also offers a free swim night at the Shindleman Aquatic Centre once a month throughout the fall and winter.

The Viterra Fitness Centre is a 4,000 square-foot gym that features 19 pieces of cardo equipment, 10 weight machines, free weights and a rowing machine. Each piece of cardo equipment features monitors with cable TV and the capability to watch items from your IPhone or IPod. Other small equipment available are exercise balls, skipping ropes, weight bars, medicine balls and jumping boxes.

The Portage Rotary Multi-Purpose Room is a 6,566 square-foot entertaining space for up to 200 people. The space can be used for everything from weddings, galas, banquets, socials and business meetings to fitness classes and children’s day camp.  For smaller events the room can be divided into two smaller rooms with “B” side featuring a kitchenette and a private washroom. For large events the MPR can be expanded into the pool viewing area to accommodate the additional guests up to a total of 300 people.

The Portage Daily Graphic Room can host up to 50 people and is great for business meetings and fitness classes. The Daily Graphic Room overlooks the Crescent Lake which always provides nice scenery regardless of the season.

The Century 21 Foxx Pool Party Room is used exclusively for hosting private pool parties and pool rentals. The room can hold up to 24 people, has a great view of the Shindleman Aquatic Centre and features a small kitchenette and sink. For more information about pool parties at the Stride Place please see our Shindleman Aquatic Centre page.

The Cobbes Boardroom is best used for user group and business meetings. The room features seating for 10, a board table, access to a conference call line and a LCD TV for presentations.

The Homestead Co-Op Walking Track wraps around the upper bowl of the Stride Credit Union Arena. In total the track is 210 metres in length and has two one metre wide lines. The track is great for walking, running and fitness workouts.

The Portage Rotary Grand Hall is located in the atrium of the Stride Place. The Grand Hall features Champs Corner Concession, Portage Terriers Head Office, Keystone Sports, Stride Place Donor Wall and the Portage la Prairie Trophy Case. This space is great for registrations or small shows; it is also home to the Portage Farmers Market.

PAST MAJOR EVENTS:

2010

  • Manitoba PowerSmart Winter Games – The games welcomed athletes from all across Manitoba to Portage la Prairie for the winter games.
  • Doc Walker Concert – The Stride Place hosted its inaugural concert acts included Doc Walker, and Nasty Jack on April 3, 2010.
  • Manitoba Moose vs Abbotsford Heat – Stride Place hosted an AHL exhibition game on October 2, 2010
  • Goon the Movie – Goon was filmed at the Stride Place from October 29 – November 14, 2010. The movie saw the Stride Place transformed into many different venues including home of the Halifax Highlanders!

2011

  • World Under 17 Hockey Challenge – Stride Place hosted 12 games of the Under 17 Hockey Challenge from December 29, 2010 – January 3, 2011. These games included future NHL Stars Jacob Trouba, Nathan McKinnon, Seth Jones, Hunter Shinkaruk and many more.
  • 2011 Anavet Cup Finals – The Portage Terriers hosted the La Ronge Wolves in the Anavet Cup with a berth in the RBC Cup on the line. The Terriers prevailed with a 4-3 series win marking the first League and Interprovincial Championship since moving to the Stride Place.
  • Don Cherry Story Movie – Filmed in the Stride Credit Union Arena from May 27 – June 14, 2011, the glass was removed and replaced with chain link fence to make the arena appear from the 1970’s.

2012

  • Manitoba Scotties Tournament of Hearts – Stride Place hosted Manitoba’s top 16 female curling teams from January 25 – 29, 2012. This would include the future Olympic Gold medalists of the Sochi Games in Jennifer Jones, Kaitlyn Lawes, Jill Officer and Dawn McEwen. The event at the time was the highest attended female play downs in the provinces history.
  • 2012 Anavet Cup Finals – The Terriers were back to defend their interprovincial championship, unfortunately they fell short losing to the Humboldt Broncos in game 7.
  • Mr. Hockey: The Gordie Howe Story – Was filmed at the Stride Place  from September 3 – 19, 2012. Once again the Stride Place Arena was transformed into a retro arena, but this time it film crews worked to make the arena the home to 5 WHA & NHL Arenas.

2013

  • The Gabby Douglas Story – Was filmed at the Stride Place (formerly PCU Centre) from October 13 – 19, 2014. This was the first non-hockey film production to take place in the Stride Credit Union Arena. The filming period took place in the middle of or ice season so the ice had to be covered and gymnastics equipment brought. The venue was transformed into looking like the London Olympics, World Championships in Tokyo, Japan and the AT&T American Cup in Madison Square Garden, New York.

2014

  • Manitoba Cheerleading Provincials – For the first time in the history of the Manitoba Cheer Federation provincials were held outside of the City of Winnipeg. The event brought more than 500 athletes and 1,500 spectators took in the event in Portage la Prairie.

2015

  • 2015 RBC Junior “A” National Championship – The Stride Place was home to the 2015 RBC Cup. The event featured the five best Junior “A” hockey teams in all of Canada, the host Portage Terriers, Penticton Vees, Melfort Mustangs, Carleton Place Canadians and Soo Thunderbirds. The Terriers beat the Canadians 5-2 pleasing a sold out home town crowd of over 2,300, and winning the Cities first national Championship since 1973.
  • Portage Exhibition and Stampede – The Stride Place was transformed to host Portages first ever indoor Rodeo on July 4 – 5, 2015. This event saw over 800 yards of material brought into the arena to create a rodeo arena.

2016

  • Viterra Men’s Provincial Championships – Stride Place hosted Manitoba’s top 32 men’s curling teams from February 8-12th, 2017.

2018

  • Canad Inns Mixed Doubles Curling Trials – Stride Place hosted the first ever mixed doubles curling trials on January 2-7th 2018 which resulted in the winning team going to represent Canada at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeong Chang, South Korea.

2020

  • Prairie Gold Curling Event – Stride Place was due to host 4 different championships during the same event from March 11th – 22nd 2020. Canad Inns Mixed Doubles Curling, Everest Senior Men’s & Women’s Curling, U Sports University Canadian Curling and CCAA Canadian Curling. Unfortunately it was cut short due to the Covid-19 outbreak.
  • 2020 Centennial Cup National Jr “A” Championships – May 9th-17th 2020 Cancelled due to Covid-19

2022

  • 2022 Canad Inns Mixed Doubles Curling Trials on December 28 – January 2nd 2022 Hosted by the PRRA, Portage Curling Club and Curl Canada at Stride Place. Cancelled due to Covid-19

2023

  • 2023 Centennial Cup “Junior A” National Hockey Championship from May 11 – 21st 2023 – this event featured the best ten Junior “A” hockey teams in all of Canada – Hosted by the Portage Terriers with the Brooks Bandits taking the 2023 Centennial Cup Championship.
  • 2023 Manitoba 55+ Games June 20-22nd 2023 –