The Cardiff Arena, also known as Cardiff Bay Ice Arena and also known by ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 fans as the Big Blue Tent, is a temporary ice rink

Ice rink

An ice rink is a frozen body of water and/or hardened chemicals where people can skate or play winter sports. Besides recreational ice skating, some of its uses include ice hockey, figure skating and curling as well as exhibitions, contests and ice shows...

 in Cardiff Bay

Cardiff Bay

Cardiff Bay is the area created by the Cardiff Barrage in South Cardiff, the capital of Wales. The regeneration of Cardiff Bay is now widely regarded as one of the most successful regeneration projects in the United Kingdom. The Bay is supplied by two rivers to form a freshwater lake round the...

, Cardiff

Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

, Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. It has a capacity of 2,500 for ice hockey and is home to the Cardiff Devils

Cardiff Devils

The Cardiff Devils are a Welsh ice hockey team who play in the British Elite Ice Hockey League. The team currently plays in the temporary Cardiff Arena...

 after leaving the Wales National Ice Rink

Wales National Ice Rink

The Wales National Ice Rink was an ice rink in Cardiff, Wales. It was the former home of the Cardiff Devils ice hockey team. The WNIR was opened in 1986 and was demolished in September 2006....

, in order to the rink to be demolished to make way for a John Lewis

John Lewis

John Lewis may refer to:* John Lewis Partnership, a United Kingdom worker co-operative retailer** John Lewis , a department store chain in the United Kingdom-Politics:...

 store. It is also used for figure skating

Figure skating

Figure skating is an Olympic sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform spins, jumps, footwork and other intricate and challenging moves on ice skates. Figure skaters compete at various levels from beginner up to the Olympic level , and at local, national, and international competitions...

 and has hosted one competition to date (February 2009) with another planned for summer of 2010.

The ice rink is a prefabricated

Prefabrication

Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located...

 structure constructed in Finland

Finland

Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...

. Assembly began in 2006 and after a number of delays opened on 6 December 2006 when the Devils hosted the Manchester Phoenix

Manchester Phoenix

Manchester Phoenix are a professional ice hockey team from Altrincham, Greater Manchester, England. The club was formed in 2003 as a result of the efforts of supporters group Friends of Manchester Ice Hockey to bring top-level ice hockey back to Manchester after Manchester Storm folded in...

 (who, coincidentally, were also waiting for a similar venue to be completed) in an Elite Ice Hockey League

Elite Ice Hockey League

Several competitions fall under the jurisdiction of the Elite League. In 2006–07, the EIHL ran a total of four competitions: the league, playoffs, Challenge Cup and Knockout Cup. The league consists of a single division, each team playing three home games and three away games against the other...

 fixture. The Devils won the game 7-4 while Manchester's Tony Hand

Tony Hand

Tony Hand MBE is a Scottish ice hockey player who became the first British-raised player to be drafted by an NHL team when he was picked by the Edmonton Oilers in 1986. He is currently player-coach of the Manchester Phoenix...

 became the first player to score a goal at the rink.

New arena

Cardiff Council

Cardiff Council

The County Council of the City and County of Cardiff is the governing body for Cardiff, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. The council consists of 75 councillors, representing 29 electoral wards. The authority is properly styled as The County Council of the City and County of Cardiff or in...

 has named the operator Planet Ice as the company it wants to build a new ice rink for the Cardiff International Sports Village

Cardiff International Sports Village

Cardiff International Sports Village is located in Cardiff Bay in the city of Cardiff, Wales. It is one of the largest regeneration projects currently in the UK...

. Development of the plan's rink design is due to start in late September 2010, and work is due to begin in early 2011, subject to planning, with the ice arena to be completed by February 2012. Planet Ice will run the rink as well as design and build it.

External links

• Cardiff school of skating For skating lessons & club
• Cardiff National Ice Skating Website Saturday
• Cardiff Devils official website
• Cardiff Ice Skating Club website