It took place over four days in Sofia in collaboration with the Bulgarian Ice Hockey Federation and the Winter Sports Palace.

Attendees received theoretical and practical sessions on every aspect of the process, from building ice to painting logos onto the ice.

Theory classes were given in the Grand Hotel Sofia and the on-ice exercises took place at the Winter Sports Palace.

"Our goal is to transfer the knowledge of everything we have to our member national federations, so they can use it at home, teach others, work together and better their hockey development," said Frank Gonzalez, chairman of the IIHF Facilities Working Group.

"We are open and we don’t want anybody to have any secrets.

"Facilities are one big part of that development.

"All that is work in progress to develop better hockey in these countries, not only in the lower-division nations, but also in the top nations.

"The playing field should be one of the most important aspects of our game on a safety and security issue for the players and game officials who are on the ice and in the end will make our game interesting, safer and faster for the players, parents and fans alike, since this is what we do."

Participants were taught techniques for creating and maintaining an indoor surface for ice hockey competitions.

People from eight countries - Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Turkey and Bulgaria - took part.

The IIHF is in the early stages of planning a similar event in Mexico.