MINSK – Belarus finished tenth in the recent IIHF World Championship in Germany. But in less than four years time, roofs on the newly built ice arenas will be raised with expectations when Minsk will be proud first time hosts of the World Championship.

"It will be like hosting the Olympics for us,” said Sergej Gontcharov, who was the General Secretary of the Belarus Ice Hockey Association until the 2010 Worlds. “And yes, we want a medal. Pierre the Coubertain (Founding Father of the International Olympic Committee) once said: ‘if you want to jump three metres, you got to aim at five.’ So we aim for gold, and then we'll see."

High hopes for a young nation where ice hockey played second fiddle to football up until its independence days of 1991. Since then hockey has steadily been on the rise and especially after Alexander Lukashenko became the country’s president in 1994. 16 years later, Lukashenko is still in power and the development of ice hockey has been a high priority in the last ten years.

"Our President has meant a lot, and without him there wouldn't have been such a rapid growth of this sport. When we have guests and potential investors, they all get interested in hockey when they see that the President plays the sport himself, so it helps us to attract sponsors,” said Gontcharov.

Belarus made their debut among the big boys in the top division of the IIHF World Championship in Switzerland 1998 where they finished a creditable eight. At that time, infrastructure for ice hockey was somewhat limited in Belarus, but with the help of massive investments, which according to Gontcharov is funded by ‘everyone, but with more involvement from the government than in other countries’, Belarus has lately become a building site for ice arenas.

"I think that in 1999 we only had around four arenas,” said Gontcharov. ”And now, ten years later, we have around 25 and there was a plan in place to build around 25 more arenas over a span of five years. Those plans had to be adjusted slightly due to the financial crisis. But still each year we have three to five arenas that are opening up."

Minsk Arena is the jewel in the crown of the newly constructed ice palaces in Belarus and this is also where the final of the 2014 IIHF World Championship will be played. Located on the north-western outskirts of the capital, the multi-use indoor arena with 15,000 seats was inaugurated with the second Kontinental Hockey League All-Star Game at the end of January with prominent guests such as Wayne Gretzky, Mark Messier and Vladislav Tretyak sitting in the stands. It has since been the home of KHL team Dynamo Minsk and it was also the venue for the final of the 2010 IIHF World U18 Championship between Team USA and Sweden at the end of April this year. The Chizhovka Arena with 8,000 seats located at the other end of Minsk will be built as the second venue of the 2014 Worlds.

But the idea behind the numerous ultra-modern ice palaces of steel and glass popping up all over the country is not only done with future medals in mind. During this year’s IIHF World Championship in Germany, Belarus had the lowest amount of registered players of all 16 participating nations. Meanwhile, at junior level, Belarus failed to win promotion to the top division in the U20 category and got relegated from the top division of the World U18 Championship on home ice. So there is definitely room for improvement and Gontcharov is hoping that new arenas will promote the sport to a wider audience which in the long run he hopes can benefit the nation.

"We also build arenas in smaller cities and regions where rinks aren’t necessarily used for high-performance athletes and teams, but also for the grassroots so that kids can start playing the game,” said Gontcharov.

"We want athleticism and sport to be a way of life in Belarus in order to keep kids in good health and avoid them from choosing the wrong path in life. I guess one proof that the approval rate is great for the new arenas we've built is the high demand for ice time. At the moment we don't have enough ice. The kids don't have enough ice, not to mention regular skating for fun, so I guess one can say that it has been successful."

Belarus has played at the top level of the IIHF World Championships since 1998, apart from two separate one-year spells in Division I (2002 and 2004). A sixth place at the 2006 World Championship in Riga is their best result so far, and the fourth place at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City is still remembered with fond memories across the country after a memorable 4-3 victory against Sweden in the quarterfinals.

In four years time, there is no doubt that the new arenas will be first class, but a lot of hard work still remains if the Belarusian Ice Hockey Association’s lofty ambitions for the national team shall come true. But with this year’s World Championship host, Germany, coming very close to winning a medal, there is hope and reason to believe Belarus can reach similar heights with the vocal backing of a home crowd in less than four years time.

And as dynamic the arena situation is, as dynamic is the organization as changes were done this year in several key positions with a new president, a new general secretary and a new national team coach, who will all work on the ambitious goals for the next four years.

HENRIK MANNINEN