Ice Hockey venues fine tuned with student tournament

International Student Hockey Challenge underway in Krasnoyarsk

With 150 days left to go until the start of the Krasnoyarsk 2019 Winter Universiade the Crystal Ice Arena and Pervomaysky Ice Arena were thrown open for an international student team tournament, the ‘Student Hockey Challenge’. If the opening games are anything to go by, these two venues will see scintillating Ice Hockey action in March 2019 – as they are experiencing now in the upcoming Universiade host city.

First up on the ice of Pervomaysky were teams from the Florida Gulf Coast University (USA) and Dynamo from the Barnaul Law Institute of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Russia). The Americans took the lead through Trevor McClean Mullaly in the final seconds of the fifth minute, but from then on it was all Dynamo. The players from Barnaul Law won the game 7:1.

The Student Hockey League (SHL) West team from Russia was equally dominating in their 5:1 victory over UK Praha of the Czech Republic.

Over in the Crystal Ice Arena, University of Mateja Bela (Slovakia) whitewashed Derzhavin Tambov State University (Russia) 3:0. But the stunning Arena itself attracted almost as much attention as the game.

“I am impressed by the Crystal Ice Arena,” said Yaroslav Straka, President of European University Hockey League. “I saw some photos before we came here, but I could not envision how big the venue is. It is really fascinating!”

As action continues in the ‘Student Hockey Challenge’, the two Ice Hockey venues of the Winter Universiade 2019 are gearing up to be ready in every sense of the word. Real Hockey, Real Winter, coming up in 150 days. Watch this space.