New VHL HC Hockey Club Norilsk will play all home matches in the Championship at its Arktika arena, Evgeny Nikitin, the club’s general manager, told .
On May 21, the management of the All-Russian Hockey League announced that Norilsk, along with CSK VVS, Dynamo-Altai, Kristall and Chelny, will join the VHL starting from the new season. A total of 29 teams will participate in the new VHL season. Norilsk becomes the northernmost professional hockey club in the world. Previous media reported that the new team will play part of the games in the suburbs.
— As wrote on April 4, businessman Vladimir Potanin said that a professional hockey club is being created in Norilsk for the first time in history. Only three months have passed and HC Norilsk has already been accepted into the VHL, recruited and are preparing for the season. Are you in emergency mode?
– The decision to create a team was not born in April, but much earlier. At least last year when they started talking about it. And this year, at the stellar gala match, Vladimir Olegovich announced that if everything was so good with hockey in Norilsk, then it was time to create a professional club. But the work has been going on for a long time, not three months. We don’t have an emergency. The team has been created, is training and in September we will make our VHL debut at our arena – the Arktika Sports Palace, which is being upgraded and is fully compliant with VHL regulations.
– They said that Norilsk will play mainly in the Moscow region, because Taimyr has a difficult climate, there is no flight time. Is it true ?
– What do you mean, in the suburbs? Do not comment on rumours. I responsibly declare that we will play all home games in Norilsk. The team was created for the Norilsk people, at least three years we will perform at the Arktika Sports Palace.
– And then?
— A new 2,500-seat arena with two boxes will be built in our city. The planned go-live date is 2026, Nikitin told .
On January 30, 2014, a temperature record was recorded in Norilsk – 64 degrees below zero. The population of Norilsk is 175,000 people.
Source : MatchTV
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