Roman amphitheatre hosts ‘Arena Ice Fever – Pula MMXII’
It’s a setting not amiss from the film “Gladiator” and this weekend (14th-16th September) it hosts ice hockey matches. On Friday and Sunday, 2 matches from the Erste Bank Eishockey Liga are being played. On Saturday, a memorial veterans game is being held between the “home” team, KHL Medveščak Zagreb, and a Croatian / Russian select team.
The setting is the Roman amphitheatre in the city of Pula in Croatia. Pula is on the Adriatic coast and the imposing amphitheatre overlooks the harbour. It was built in the first century AD and Emperor Vespasian ordered the rebuilding of the structure to the one still preserved today. In order to make the arena ready for hockey, at a cost of over €500,000, a 150 people workforce are ensuring its readiness for Friday’s first game. The arena will hold 7,000 people each night for the games.
A few of the statistics that the organizers have released include a rink size of 57x26m, ice thickness of 6 to 8cm, 15,000 litres of glycol will be used to create the ice and 1800m2 of foil covers the ice during the day to protect it from the sun!
The “home” team are from Zagreb and are called KHL Medveščak and are nicknamed ‘the bears’. They were originally founded in 1961 and joined the Austrian based league in 2009. In their first league season, they made it to the playoffs but were beaten by eventual champions EC Red Bull Salzburg. The Erste Bank Eishockey Liga has 8 Austrian, 1 Slovenian, 1 Hungarian team and 1 from the Czech Republic as well as the Bears.
On Friday (14th September), the Bears face HDD Telemach Olimpija Ljubljana of Slovenia who were league runners up in 2008. This season hasn’t been a great start so far for the Slovenians who have lost both league games, including a 7-3 defeat last time out. On Sunday, it’s the turn of UPC Vienna Capitals to visit and they sit one place above the Bears in the table.
The “away” team in Saturday’s veterans match will include Vladimir Malakhov and Valeri Kamensky who are members of a prestigious group of only 25 players, in history, who have won the Stanley Cup, the World Championships and Olympic gold medals.
It seems that hockey fans in Croatia are going to get a great weekend of action in an unbelievable setting. The NHL Winter Classics have been held in imposing stadia such as Heinz Field, Wrigley Field and Fenway Park but this raises the atmospheric conditions to a new level. The organizers are putting on events outside of the arena too so Pula will be the hockey place to be this weekend. I suspect that ‘Arena Ice Fever – Pula MMXII’ will be an unforgettable experience for all who attend!