Colonel-Knight-Stadion, Ice hockey arena in Bad Nauheim, Germany.
The Colonel-Knight-Stadion is an indoor ice rink and hockey arena in Bad Nauheim, Germany, with a 60 by 35 meter (197 by 115 ft) ice surface and seating for 4,445 spectators. The building has covered stands on multiple sides and modern refrigeration and lighting systems throughout.
Colonel Paul Rutherford Knight, local commander of the Allied forces, ordered the arena built at the edge of the Kurpark; construction began on 8 October 1945, and when the 100-day target slipped, more than 50 inmates from the Butzbach prison were assigned and a night shift introduced. It opened on the evenings of 22 and 23 January 1946 with figure skater Maxi Herber as guest star; her husband Ernst Baier was barred because of his earlier contacts with Joseph Goebbels. Days later Knight was removed from his post and further construction halted; the extension was approved only in 1947.
The stadium's name comes from Colonel Paul Rutherford Knight, who had it built in 1945/46; it was called 100-Tage-Stadion and later Kunsteisstadion before taking his name in 1999. In February 1955 it hosted the first match of a Russian team on West German soil, a German select side against Dynamo Moscow.
The arena is centrally located in Bad Nauheim and easy to reach by car, with parking nearby. It is worth checking the schedule in advance, as the facility is used for both public skating sessions and hockey matches on different days.
The stadium still carries the name of the American officer who ordered it built, making it one of the rare sports venues in Germany named after a foreign military figure. This connection to the postwar US military presence in the region is still visible in the name above the entrance today.
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