Shaybu! (That’s Russian for: “Deliver the puck!”)
You’ll hear a lot of that come February at Bolshoy Ice Dome and Shayba Arena, hosts of the 2014 Olympic hockey events. The latter will also be the site of Paralympic sledge hockey in March.
And guess what? At the two international test events held at these venues in 2013, Canada won a pair of gold medals. We Canucks are fans of Bolshoy (it means “big”) Ice Dome and Shayba (“puck”) Arena.
First, the rinks: With its 12,000-person capacity, Bolshoy is one of the biggest Olympic venues in Russia, and it’s state of the art. There are lights built into the roof that turn colours and can even display images, and a road inside the rink means team buses can drop off players right in front of their locker rooms. Whoa.
Bolshoy and Shayba are located side by side for now, but after the Paralympic Games, Shayba will be moved—yes, the 7,000-capacity stadium is mobile—to another Russian city, where it’ll become the National Sports and Education Centre for Children. Bolshoy will become a multi-purpose venue for both sports and entertainment.
Bolshoy and Shaba played host to their first international tournament this past April, the U18 World Championship. Led by a tournament-leading and record-setting 14-point performance by OHL star Connor McDavid (more on him here ), Canada beat the U.S. in the final. Finland edged Russia 2–1 for bronze.
In September, Shayba played host to the 4 Nations Ice Sledge Hockey tournament, where Canada crushed Norway 5–0 to win gold.
Shaybu!
