Ice skating was already popular in Val Gardena in the early 20th century
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.
At first, only natural ice rinks were available. In 1967, an ice stadium with an artificial ice rink and a capacity of 4,000 spectators was built in Oltretorrente, next to the valley station of the Mont Sëuc (Alpe di Siusi) cable car. In 1980, Ortisei was awarded the 1981 Ice Hockey World Championships on the condition that the ice stadium would be covered. The roofing was completed on time. However, on June 10, 1999, the ice stadium was destroyed by a landslide. Fortunately, no one was injured as it happened at night. Since then, the Val Gardena team has been training and playing in the "Pranives" ice stadium in Selva (Wolkenstein). In addition, there are many amateur teams in Val Gardena.
