Milan Hockey Venue Delays May Leave NHL Players on Unproven Ice

Forget about poor conditions. For now, the surface isn't ready.

As NHL players gearing up to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the first time in more than a ten years, building work on the primary hockey venue for the Milan-Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Officials confirmed on Wednesday that the primary test event for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia facility originally planned for December has been moved to a smaller venue – and that no additional trial has been arranged yet.

This situation raises the prospect that there may not be a match held in the primary venue until the competition begins for the women's initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – one day before the inaugural event.

“The timeline will be extremely tight to the start of the games, the timeline is highly compressed. But we knew that,” Milano Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier stated recently.

The event that was supposed to test the Santagiulia ice was part of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been moved to the Rho Fiera hockey venue, which is being established inside a giant convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will stage secondary matches during the Olympics.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the prior year to holding medal events. And with a large hockey arena, it’s not just about the playing surface and making sure that the playing surface is prepared and secure. It’s additionally about testing concession stands, restrooms and all other amenities inside a brand-new modern stadium.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being constructed by a private company, is slated to become the nation's biggest indoor arena. For after the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.

Despite the postponements and concerns, expensive passes are already being sold for events at the Santagiulia venue. Tickets for the men's championship final on 22 February – the final day of the Olympics – are going for as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds for any other athletic competition at the Milano Cortina Games. Solely passes for the opening and closing ceremonies cost more.

The comeback of NHL players at the Olympics was announced in February of last year, with the premier hockey organization permitting its athletes to participate in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

Men's Olympic hockey competition is set to take place from 11-22 February. Women's event occurs from 5-19 February.