A sport dating back to the beginning of the 20th century in the Val Gardena valley
In the beginnings, ice hockey was only a new and attractive leisure time activity, but rather soon - already in the year 1927 - the first professional ice hockey team was founded in Ortisei. The so-called Hockey Club Gherdëina was one of the first hockey clubs all over Italy. For decades, it was known as one of the strongest clubs in all of Italy. Four times the Hockey Club Gherdëina was able to win the Italian Ice Hockey Championship.
Initially, the ice rinks in Val Gardena featured natural ice but in 1967 the first ice stadium boasting artificial ice was built in Oltretorrente with a capacity of 4,000 spectators. In 1981 - after roofing the stadium - Ortisei hosted the Ice Hockey World Championship. On June 10, 1999 a landslide destroyed the ice stadium but luckily, the catastrophe happened over night so that nobody died of it. Since then, the Hockey Club Gherdëina has trained and played in the Pranives Ice Stadium in Selva Val Gardena. In Val Gardena, there are also numerous amateur hockey clubs.
