The hockey arena with top parameters was built in the place of an old ice hockey stadium, built in 1940. The author of the remodelling project is a renowned Slovakian architect, Dušan Fischer. The arena was built in a record time of 22 months, from early May 2009 to late February 2011. With the remodelling, the old ice rink was turned into a modern, multi-purpose hall with three ice surfaces, with adequate transport infrastructure, retail space, attractive sky boxes, a modern management information system, including the unique Ice Cube. In addition to the conversion of the arena itself, the old training hall has been replaced by a new hall with two training areas, as well as an underground garage with 300 parking places. The stadium is basically a new building, because in addition to the substructure and some exterior walls in it, is everything completely new, including the structure. The reason why the stadium was not built in another location which was also available, was particularly rich tradition of the stadium and the unmistakable atmosphere of the place, that remembers the matches of legendary Soviet team led by Mr. Tichonov but also Canada, who played at this stadium.
The recently finished arena was put to real test with the world championship in ice hockey in Bratislava; sixteen teams competed over the championship title during 29 April to 15 May 2011 resulting in Finland winning the championship with a 6-1 win in the final match against Sweden. This was the first time the independent Slovakia hosted the world championship, and the third time that Bratislava co-hosted the world championship. In 1959 and 1992, while being part of Czechoslovakia, Bratislava co-hosted world championships with Prague.
In addition to being an impressive project as such, the Ondrej Nepela Ice Arena is the biggest ice-hockey arena in Slovakia, as well as being the most modern sports facility in the whole country currently. Also, built within a radius of 200 km from Bratislava (including cities such as Vienna, Budapest, Brno) it is currently the highest quality multifunctional hall in the region, able to successfully host global events of sport, culture and tourism.
