The Cardiff Arena, also known as Cardiff Bay Ice Arena and also known by ice hockey fans as the Big Blue Tent, is a temporary ice rink in Cardiff Bay, Cardiff, Wales. It has a capacity of 2,500 for ice hockey and is home to the Cardiff Devils after leaving the Wales National Ice Rink, in order to the rink to be demolished to make way for a John Lewis store. It is also used for figure skating and has hosted three competitions to date (February 2009,11,12).
The ice rink is a prefabricated structure constructed in Finland. Assembly began in 2006 and after a number of delays opened on 6 December 2006 when the Devils hosted the Manchester Phoenix (who, coincidentally, were also waiting for a similar venue to be completed) in an Elite Ice Hockey League fixture. The Devils won the game 7-4 while Manchester's Tony Hand became the first player to score a goal at the rink.
Read more about Cardiff Arena: New Arena
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