CHELYABINSK, March 16 (RIA Novosti). - In Chelyabinsk, construction has started on a new world-class ice arena with 7,500 seats. The total cost of the project is about 1 billion rubles.
Pyotr Sumin, governor of the Chelyabinsk Region, said at the ceremony to lay the foundation stone, "The Chelyabinsk hockey team, Traktor, will start the hockey season of 2008-2009 in the new arena, and I believe that here new European and Olympic champions will be born."
There are 4 ice hockey schools in Chelyabinsk, with a total of more than 3000 students.
Andrei Nazarov, the only Russian "enforcer" in the history of the NHL, who played for 12 seasons and ended his career in sports in 2006, came back to Chelyabinsk in February as the team's managing director.
In the meantime, Western players have joined the team - Canadian defender Jason Doig and U.S. goalkeeper Chad Alban have been playing in Chelyabinsk since November.
