Bolshoy Ice Dome
LocationSochi, Russia
Coordinates43°24′16″N 39°57′00″E / 43.4044778°N 39.9499333°E / 43.4044778; 39.9499333
OperatorInternational Ice Hockey Federation[1]
Capacity12,035[1]
Construction
Opened2013[1]
Construction costUS$300 million / RUB 9.9 billion
Tenants
HC Sochi (2014-)
2014 Winter Olympics
2013 IIHF World U18 Championships
2013 Channel One Cup

The Bolshoy Ice Dome (Russian: Большой Ледовый дворец) is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in Olympic Park, Sochi, Russia. Opened in 2012, the 12,000-seat arena was primarily constructed to host hockey competitions during the 2014 Winter Olympics. Following the Games, it became the home arena of HC Sochi, an expansion team of the KHL. The arena has also hosted concerts and other events. Prior to the Games, the arena hosted the IIHF World U18 Championships and Channel One Cup in 2013.

The arena's exterior is distinguished by its LED-illuminated roof, which its designers described as resembling fabergé eggs and frozen water droplets.

Name and location

The arena was named "Bolshoy", meaning "big", "large" and "huge" in Russian.[2] This highlights the integral role of ice hockey at the Olympics,[3] which has been dubbed "the most popular sport" of the Games by the organizers themselves.[1] Furthermore, the name was chosen due to its universal familiarity in other countries, in addition to its allusion to the Bolshoi Theatre, Bolshoi Ballet, and other great Russian accomplishments.[1][2]

The Ice Dome was situated in the Coastal Cluster zone of venues for the 2014 Winter Olympics.[1] It served as the main arena for the men and women's ice hockey tournament throughout the Games. It is the only venue in the Olympic Park located on top of a hill,[4] and is less than 1,000 feet (300 m) away from Shayba Arena, which was the secondary ice hockey venue that hosted mainly preliminary round matches.[2]

Structure and facilities

Exterior of the Bolshoy Ice Dome

The construction of the Bolshoy Ice Dome started in 2009[5] and finished in 2012.[1] It was designed by architect firm Mostovik[6] and completed at a cost of approximately US$180 million,[7] although ITAR-TASS estimated the cost to be as high as $300 million.[5] A total of 20 architects and 70 engineers – headed by Andrey Ustinov – were responsible for the construction of the arena.[8]

The interior of the arena during the 2013 IIHF World U18 Championships opening ceremony

The exterior structure of the Ice Dome was designed to resemble a frozen ice droplet.[1][3] It has also drawn comparisons to a Fabergé egg, due to the light-emitting diodes (LEDs) resembling the "jewel-encrusted surface" of the famous Russian art piece.[6] Ustinov confirmed that the building was designed to be "a combination of both."[8] The roof of the dome is mostly silver in colour[1] and is covered with aluminium panels.[2] It is decorated with 38,000 LED lights which illuminate the outside of the arena at night.[2][9] The roof also doubles as a scoreboard that displays the live score of the game being played inside and an animation of a hockey puck whenever a goal is scored.[10] However, it famously did not display the final score after the United States defeated the hosts Russia 3–2 in an overtime shootout during the 2014 Winter Olympics.[11][12]

In the arena's interior, the 12,000 seats are arranged in bowl-like configuration. The concourse features 35,000 square feet (3,300 m2) of glazed glass, which enables spectators to have a view of the Caucasus Mountains.[2] The hockey rink's dimensions are 60 metres (200 ft) × 30 metres (98 ft), in line with the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) specifications. This contrasts with the dimensions of the previous Olympics, which utilized National Hockey League (NHL) sized rinks that are 4 metres (13 ft) narrower in width.[13] It contains 12 dressing rooms for players, an entry tunnel that can be accessed by large vehicles, and a practice ice rink.[14] Moreover, the Ice Dome uses heat transfer fluids on the ice and in the air conditioning system. This helps to preserve the quality of the ice, as well as moderate the temperature within the arena so that spectators are kept warm while maintaining the coolness of the ice.[2][15] These technologies – along with the arena's insulation – were developed by the Dow Chemical Company, one of the official sponsors of the Olympic Games.[16]

Events

Preliminary round match between Russia and Slovenia during the men's ice hockey tournament of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

In order to test the arenas built for the Olympics, the Bolshoy Ice Dome served as one of the venues for the 2013 IIHF World U18 Championships.[17] It subsequently held the Channel One Cup from 19–22 December 2013 in final preparation before the start of the Games.[18] As the main venue for the 2014 Olympic ice hockey competition, the Ice Dome hosted most of the preliminary round games and almost all the playoff round matches for the men's tournament, while hosting solely the medal matches of the women's tournament.[19][20] On February 20, it held the gold medal match for the women's tournament, which saw Canada overcome a 0–2 deficit against the United States to tie the game with less than a minute of regulation time remaining, before scoring in overtime to secure their fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal.[21][22] The arena hosted the gold medal game of the men's tournament three days later on 23 February – the final gold medal of the 2014 Games up for contention – in which Canada defeated Sweden by a score of 3–0. In doing so, the Canadian team won an Olympic gold medal outside of North America for the first time in 62 years, became the first team since the Soviet Union in 1984 to finish the tournament with a perfect record,[23] the first team to successfully defend their gold medal since the Soviets in 1988, and the first to do both with the participation of NHL players, which started in 1998.[24]

The venue hosted the 2015 Kontinental Hockey League All-Star Game.[25] The arena also hosted the first edition of the VTB United Basketball League All-Star Game.[26]

After the Olympics

After the conclusion of the Olympics, the arena continue to host a variety of sports, in addition to becoming an entertainment centre and concert venue.[1][3] The arena now hosts HC Sochi, a KHL expansion team.[27]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 "Bolshoy Ice Dome – Venues". Sochi2014.com. Sochi 2014 Olympics. Archived from the original on 19 February 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Newcomb, Tim (9 January 2014). "First look: Sochi Olympic hockey will live in lights and ice domes". SI.com. Sports Illustrated. Archived from the original on 26 February 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  3. 1 2 3 "Sochi 2014: Olympic venue guide". BBC Sport. BBC. 5 February 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  4. ↑ Krawczynski, Jon (15 February 2014). "Sochi Scene: Bolshoy is Olympic hockey cathedral". The News & Observer. Raleigh, North Carolina. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  5. 1 2 "Sochi 2014 Olympic Facilities". Information Telegraph Agency of Russia (ITAR-TASS). 3 February 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  6. 1 2 Richardson, Phyllis (12 February 2014). "Sochi and beyond: A look at the venues for the most expensive Olympic Games". Gizmag. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
  7. ↑ "81 Days to Sochi: The coastal cluster". Sportsnet. Rogers Media. 18 November 2013. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
  8. 1 2 Wolken, Dan (22 February 2014). "Architect: Sochi Olympics unique hockey roof is 'our pride'". USA Today. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  9. ↑ Minutillo, Josephine (February 2014). "Tour Sochi's Striking Olympic Stadiums". Architectural Digest. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  10. ↑ "Bolshoy Ice Dome Roof In Sochi Acts As Hockey Scoreboard (Photo)". NESN.com. New England Sports Network. 12 February 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
  11. ↑ Johnston, Patrick (15 February 2014). "Bolshoy Ice Dome usually shows hockey scores – except when Russia loses". Canada.com. Postmedia News. Archived from the original on 17 February 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
  12. ↑ Singer, Mike (15 February 2014). "Look: Bolshoy Ice Dome doesn't display final score of USA–Russia". CBSSports.com. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
  13. ↑ "Big ice in Sochi 2014". IIHF.com. International Ice Hockey Federation. 10 March 2011. Archived from the original on 7 February 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
  14. ↑ Merk, Martin (6 December 2013). "Sochi in the final stretch". IIHF.com. International Ice Hockey Federation. Archived from the original on 15 December 2013. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  15. ↑ "All about the Sochi 2014 venues". Olympic.org. International Olympic Committee. January 7, 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  16. ↑ Lascari, Tony (10 February 2013). "Dow prepares for Sochi 2014 Olympics". Midland Daily News. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  17. ↑ "Sochi 2014 taking shape". IIHF.com. International Ice Hockey Federation. 11 October 2012. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
  18. ↑ "The Olympic Sochi hosts the prestigious Channel One Cup in hockey". Sochi2014.com. Sochi 2014 Olympics. 19 December 2013. Archived from the original on 21 February 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  19. ↑ "Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games Ice Hockey Draw" (PDF). Olympic.ca. Canadian Olympic Committee. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 March 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  20. ↑ "Canada remain cool despite past shortcomings on Olympic-size ice hockey rinks". The National. Abu Dhabi. Reuters. 11 February 2014. Archived from the original on 1 March 2014. Retrieved 1 March 2014.
  21. ↑ MacGregor, Roy (20 February 2014). "Canadian women's hockey team wins Olympic gold with stunning comeback". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 21 February 2013.
  22. ↑ Loney, Heather (20 February 2014). "Canada wins gold in women's hockey, beating USA in overtime". Global News. Global Television Network. Retrieved 21 February 2014.
  23. ↑ Duhatschek, Eric (23 February 2014). "Canada captures hockey gold with shutout win over Sweden". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 24 February 2013.
  24. ↑ Gloster, Rob (23 February 2014). "Canada Gets Back-to-Back Olympic Hockey Golds by Beating Sweden". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on 4 March 2014. Retrieved 4 March 2014.
  25. ↑ Hnatyuk, Vyacheslav (January 29, 2015). "KHL All Stars Played in Sochi Last Sunday". thehockeywriters.com. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  26. ↑ Russian Stars beat World Stars in VTB League All Star game.
  27. ↑ "Dolphin Swims Into Sochi as Name of City's New KHL Team". Ria.ru. Rianovosti. 26 December 2013. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
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