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 Interactive map of Bolshoy Ice Dome | |
| Location | Sochi,Russia |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 43°24′16″N39°57′00″E / 43.4044778°N 39.9499333°E /43.4044778; 39.9499333 |
| Operator | International Ice Hockey Federation[1] |
| Capacity | 12,035[1] |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 2013[1] |
| Construction cost | US$300 million / RUB 9.9 billion |
| Tenants | |
| HC Sochi (2014-) 2014 Winter Olympics 2013 IIHF World U18 Championships 2013Channel One Cup | |
TheBolshoy Ice Dome (Russian:Большой Ледовый дворец) is a multi-purposeindoor arena located inOlympic Park,Sochi,Russia. Opened in 2012, the 12,000-seat arena was primarily constructed to hosthockey competitions during the2014 Winter Olympics. Following the Games, it became the home arena ofHC Sochi, an expansion team of theKHL. The arena has also hosted concerts and other events. Prior to the Games, the arena hosted theIIHF World U18 Championships andChannel One Cup in 2013.
The arena's exterior is distinguished by itsLED-illuminated roof, which its designers described as resemblingfabergé eggs and frozen water droplets.
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 theBolshoi Theatre,Bolshoi Ballet, and other great Russian accomplishments.[1][2]
The Ice Dome was situated in theCoastal Cluster zone of venues for the2014 Winter Olympics.[1] It served as the mainarena for the men and women'sice 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 fromShayba Arena, which was the secondary ice hockey venue that hosted mainly preliminary round matches.[2]
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 approximatelyUS$180 million,[7] althoughITAR-TASS estimated the cost to be as high as $300 million.[5] A total of 20 architects and 70 engineers – headed byAndrey Ustinov – were responsible for the construction of the arena.[8]
The exterior structure of the Ice Dome was designed to resemble a frozen ice droplet.[1][3] It has also drawn comparisons to aFabergé egg, due to thelight-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 mostlysilver in colour[1] and is covered withaluminium 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 ascoreboard that displays the live score of the game being played inside and an animation of ahockey puck whenever agoal is scored.[10] However, it famously did not display the final score after theUnited States defeated the hostsRussia 3–2 in an overtimeshootout 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 theCaucasus Mountains.[2] Thehockey rink's dimensions are 60 metres (200 ft) × 30 metres (98 ft), in line with theInternational Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) specifications. This contrasts with the dimensions of theprevious Olympics, which utilizedNational 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 theair 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 theDow Chemical Company, one of the official sponsors of theOlympic Games.[16]
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In order to test the arenas built for the Olympics, the Bolshoy Ice Dome served as one of the venues for the2013 IIHF World U18 Championships.[17] It subsequently held theChannel One Cup from 19–22 December 2013 in final preparation before the start of the Games.[18] As the main venue for the2014 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 thewomen's tournament, which sawCanada overcome a 0–2 deficit against theUnited States to tie the game with less than a minute of regulation time remaining, before scoring inovertime to secure their fourth consecutive Olympic gold medal.[21][22] The arena hosted the gold medal game of themen's tournament three days later on 23 February – the final gold medal of the 2014 Games up for contention – in whichCanada defeatedSweden by a score of 3–0. In doing so, the Canadian team won an Olympic gold medal outside ofNorth America for the first timein 62 years, became the first team since theSoviet Union in1984 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 the2015 Kontinental Hockey League All-Star Game.[25] The arena also hosted the first edition of theVTB United Basketball League All-Star Game.[26]
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 hostsHC Sochi, aKHL expansion team.[27]
