Putin ally cites need for arenas

A billionaire ally of President Vladimir Putin said Russia needs at least 50 new ice hockey arenas in an effort to enlist companies to rebuild the sport back to its Soviet-era glory. Russia is suffering from a “severe shortage” of covered ice rinks, Arkady Rotenberg, who’s the head of Russia’s hockey federation, said at a meeting of the presidential sports council in Kazan. Putin backed the plan to build more arenas, saying Canada has more than five times as many covered rinks.