VALDEMORO, Spain – Whatever the outcome of the qualifying games in Valdemoro, Spanish hockey is guaranteed to get a boost from the tournament

It’s Spain’s first time hosting a senior men’s international event in the Madrid suburb of Valdemoro. On the eve of this Olympic Qualification tournament workmen were busily installing extra seats in the rink to accommodate curious Madrilenos as they take their first chance to see the national team in action.

Spanish TV and local media are also out in force, even if several of the reporters admit this will be their first time rating rosters rather than raving about Ronaldo. Even the local council is getting in on the act, promoting the competition on the front page of the weekly newsletter distributed around the 80,000 or so inhabitants of this growing community 27 kilometres south of the capital.

Spain meets Serbia, Iceland and China, but whatever the outcome on the ice Spanish hockey is set to be a winner following the weekend action thanks to the creation of a new high-quality facility in the Greater Madrid area.

The team’s head coach, Luciano Basile, has personal experience of working in Madrid – and fully understands how important it is to establish the game in the country’s biggest city.

“It’s great to be in Madrid,” he said. “The game doesn’t need to be introduced in Jaca or Puigcerda up in the Pyrenees. It’s already the number-one sport in these small mountain towns. But I remember coaching a couple of years in Madrid 20 years ago and it was not a hockey city at all. This is a great opportunity to play here, even if we’re in the suburbs, the Communidad, rather than right in the centre.”

So great is the north’s stranglehold on Spanish hockey that only one team, SAD Majadahonda, represents the greater Madrid region in the country’s top league. For a long time that was partly due to a lack of suitable ice in the area but thanks to the efforts of Spanish Ice Sports Federation President Frank Gonzalez that’s all changing.

“All the money that Frank was able to pull together for this tournament was invested in the rink here in Valdemoro,” explained Basile. “It had no decent nets, it had no plexi, it had no scoreboard, it had no locker rooms. Everything you see here today is new.”

Admittedly, it’s been a race to get everything ready in time. President Gonzalez himself was taking a hands-on approach on Thursday afternoon, helping to clean the new glass before the competition starts Friday.

And, as Basile said, the rapid upgrade of the Franciso Fernandez Ochoa rink – it’s named for Spain’s only Olympic gold medal-winning figure skater – has sprung a few surprises as the team gathered for practice while workmen scurried around the building putting everything in order. But he, and everyone else associated with the team, are happy with the first success for Team Spain in this qualifying group.

“Just playing this tournament here means that all of a sudden we’ve got a great new facility that we didn’t have before. All the money that was invested in the rink is going to stay in the rink. Madrid only had one real hockey rink, but now we have two. That’s already a great thing.”

ANDY POTTS