The 22nd anniversary of the Metropolitan Sports Center going down was remembered Tuesday when Vintage MN Hockey tweeted a photo of the series of three controlled implosions.
The building was demolished Dec. 13, 1994, after the North Stars moved to Dallas in the fall of 1993, leaving Minnesota and the state of hockey without a NHL franchise.
The Met Center opened in 1967 and served as the home of the North Stars for 26 seasons. The arena was built in 12 months and cost $7 million. It also served as the home for semi-pro basketball, soccer, professional women's basketball and pro tennis. The high school boys' state hockey tournament was held there from 1969-1975.
The venue was also the Twin Cities home for big concerts and other entertainement.
For many years, the Met was considered one of the standout arenas in the NHL, but the boom of modern arenas eventually left it behind. Among the reasons the North Stars left town, was the lack of interest in building the team in a new arena in Minneapolis or St. Paul.
After going down, the open lot served as extra parking for the Mall of America. The furniture megastore IKEA now sits on a portion of the property the Met Center used to occupy.
The NHL returned to Minnesota in 2000 when the Wild expansion franchise moved into its new $130 million arena, Xcel Energy Center, in downtown St. Paul.
The Twin Cities have built three new stadiums, TCF Bank Stadium ($303 million), Target Field ($545 million) and U.S. Bank Stadium ($1 billion), and began rennovating Target Center ($129 million), since the Wild's new stadium opened.
