Ice Arena Wales (IAW) ( cy, Canolfan Iâ Cymru) is an ice hockey rink in the

Cardiff International Sports Village Cardiff International Sports Village ( cy, Pentref Chwaraeon Rhyngwladol Caerdydd) is located in Cardiff Bay in the city of Cardiff, Wales. It is one of the largest Urban renewal, regeneration projects currently in the UK and is a Public-priv ...

Cardiff Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...

, Wales. It opened on 12 March 2016, and has two ice rinks and seating for 3,088 spectators. It is home to the Cardiff Devils ice hockey team, who play in the professional British

Elite Ice Hockey League The Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL), sometimes referred to as the British Elite League or, for sponsorship reasons, the Viaplay Elite League, is an ice hockey league in the United Kingdom. Formed in 2003 following the demise of the Ice Hockey ...

, which is the top tier of

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice h ...

in the UK. It replaced the

Cardiff Arena The Cardiff Arena, also known as Cardiff Bay Ice Arena and also known by ice hockey fans as the Big Blue Tent, was a temporary ice rink in Cardiff Bay, Cardiff, Wales. It had a capacity of 2,500 for ice hockey and was home to the Cardiff Devil ...

, which was close to the current site. The Cardiff Arena (affectionately named the Big Blue Tent) was a temporary structure, built after the

Wales National Ice Rink The Wales National Ice Rink (WNIR) was an ice rink in Cardiff, Wales. It was the former home of the Cardiff Devils ice hockey team. The WNIR was opened in September 1986, and was inaugurated by the Duchess of York on 27 April 1987. Meat Loaf per ...

was demolished in September 2006. The Cardiff Devils played their first game at the arena against

Belfast Giants The Belfast Giants (known officially as the Stena Line Belfast Giants due to sponsorship) are a professional ice hockey team based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. They compete in the UK's Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) and are the current cha ...

on 12 March 2016.

History

Construction

Cardiff Council Cardiff Council, formally the County Council of the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Cyngor Sir Dinas a Sir Caerdydd) is the governing body for Cardiff, one of the Principal Areas of Wales. The principal area and its council were established ...

had named the operator

Planet Ice A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a young ...

as the company they had chosen to build a new ice rink to replace the

, which is a temporary structure in the

. Work was due to begin in early 2011, subject to planning, with the ice arena to be completed by February 2012. Planet Ice would have run the rink as well as design and build it. However, by July 2011, Cardiff Council said in statement "We were unable to find the comfort that we required from them to show the ice rink would now be progressed. As a result it is being recommended that the executive cancels the current tender. Instead it is proposed to deliver a new ice arena, as a priority, within a new waterfront tender which would go out this summer." The contract to build the arena was eventually won by the Wigan-based developers, Greenbank Partnerships. The cost of the arena is approximately £16 – £17 million and will form part of a larger £250M development, which will include a 32-storey

indoor ski slope Indoor skiing is done in a climate-controlled environment with artificially produced snow. This enables skiing and snowboarding to take place regardless of outdoor temperatures. Facilities for both alpine skiing and nordic skiing are availabl ...

which will contain a hotel and apartments, and viewing platform. The development will also contain cafes, shops, office space, apartments and townhouses.

Opening

Inside the Ice Arena Wales February 2016

The last game in the Cardiff Arena (also known as the Big Blue Tent) was played against

Coventry Blaze Coventry Blaze are an ice hockey team based in Coventry, England. They currently compete in the British Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) and play their home games at SkyDome Arena. The club was founded in 1965 as the ''Solihull Barons'' and ren ...

on 27 February 2016. The first game in Ice Arena Wales was against Belfast Giants on 12 March 2016, with the first goal scored by

Joey Martin (ice hockey) Joey Martin (born July 29, 1988) is a Canadian professional ice hockey player for UK Elite Ice Hockey League (EIHL) side Cardiff Devils. He most recently iced with IceHL side Graz 99ers and was also previously with the Stavanger Oilers in Norway ...

during the second period at 31:34 time played. Joey would also score the second goal at 33:37 on the way to a 5-2 Cardiff victory for the first match at the arena.

Boxing

The IAW has also hosted boxing on three occasions, the first being on 16 July 2016.

MMA

The IAW has hosted 3

Cage Warriors Cage Warriors (CW) is an Irish owned mixed martial arts promotion, based in London, England. The promotion was established in 2001 and staged its first MMA event in London in July, 2002. Many MMA stars have made their names under the Cage War ...

events, starting with Cage Warriors 97 on 29 September 2018. Cage Warriors 100, and Cage Warriors 104 were also held at the Ice Arena Wales, on 8 December 2018 and 27 April 2019 respectively.

Naming rights

In November 2018, the venue was renamed the ''Viola Arena'', after a five-year naming rights deal was signed with

Bridgend Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the medieval bridge over the River Og ...

based financial institution, Viola. The name reverted to Ice Arena Wales in August 2020, after Viola went into liquidation.

References

External links

*
Official website
{{Sport in Cardiff Sports venues in Cardiff Indoor ice hockey venues in Wales Redevelopment projects in Cardiff Sports venues completed in 2016 2016 establishments in Wales Boxing venues in the United Kingdom