Sports-Concert Hall Almaz is an indoor sporting arena located in

Cherepovets Cherepovets ( rus, Череповец, p=tɕɪrʲɪpɐˈvʲets) is a city in Vologda Oblast, Russia, located in the west of the oblast on the banks of the Sheksna River (a tributary of the Volga River) and on the shores of the Rybinsk Reservoir. ...

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

. The capacity of the arena is 3,500. It is the former home arena of the

Severstal Cherepovets Hockey Club Severstal is a professional ice hockey club based in Cherepovets, Russia. It is a member of the Tarasov Division in the Kontinental Hockey League (KHL). History Founded in 1956, the club was originally known as Stroitel (Builder) Cher ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey in North America) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an Ice rink, ice skating rink with Ice hockey rink, lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. Tw ...

team, which has since moved to the

Ice Palace An ice palace or ice castle is a castle-like structure made of blocks of ice. These blocks are usually harvested from nearby rivers or lakes when they become frozen in winter. The first known ice palace (or, rather, '' ice house'', ледяной ...

. The arena was opened in 1970. The name refers to ''Almaz'' (diamond), the call sign of the cosmonaut

Pavel Belyayev Pavel Ivanovich Belyayev (; 26 June 1925 – 10 January 1970) was a Soviet cosmonaut who commanded the historic 1965 Voskhod 2 space mission which saw the first space walk. He had been a fighter pilot with extensive experience in piloting diff ...

during his 1965 orbital flight. The arena was built by the Severstal Steel Plant, and the plant decided to have a popular vote for the name. The shortlist contained three names, ''Almaz'', ''Kristall'', and ''Sheksna'', of which ''Almaz'' was selected by the jury.

References

Ice hockey venues in Russia Indoor arenas in Russia Severstal Cherepovets Buildings and structures in Vologda Oblast {{Russia-sports-venue-stub