Milano Ice Hockey Venue Setbacks Could Leave NHL Stars on Unproven Playing Surface

Forget about thin ice. For now, there’s no ice.

With NHL players preparing to return to the Olympics for the initial occasion in more than a ten years, construction on the main hockey venue for the Milan-Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the main test event for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia arena originally planned for December has been relocated to a more compact arena – and that no new test event has been arranged yet.

This situation raises the prospect that there may not be a match held in the main arena until the puck is dropped for the women’s preliminary round at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the inaugural event.

“The timeline will be very close to the start of the games, the schedule is highly compressed. But we knew that,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated in a recent update.

The competition that was supposed to test the Santagiulia ice was a segment of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been moved to the Rho Fiera hockey location, which is being established inside a giant convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will host lesser games during the games.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the prior year to hosting podium competitions. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not just about the ice and ensuring that the rink is prepared and secure. It’s also about checking concession stands, restrooms and everything else inside a newly constructed contemporary arena.

This new facility, which is being constructed by a commercial firm, is slated to become the nation's largest covered stadium. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential future host of the ATP Tour Finals tennis tournament.

In spite of the postponements and worries, expensive passes are already being purchased for events at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men's championship game on 22 February – the final day of the Olympics – are priced at as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds the price of any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Only passes for the opening and closing ceremonies cost more.

The return of NHL players at the Olympics was announced last February, with the world’s top hockey league allowing its players to participate in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

The men’s Olympic hockey competition is set to run from 11-22 February. The women’s event runs from 5-19 February.