Milan Hockey Venue Delays May Leave NHL Players on Unproven Ice

Put aside thin ice. Currently, the surface isn't ready.

With NHL players preparing to return to the Olympic Games for the first time in more than a ten years, building work on the primary hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Local organizers announced on Wednesday that the main test event for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia arena originally planned for December has been moved to a smaller arena – and that no new test event has been scheduled yet.

The issue raises the prospect that there may not be a game held in the primary venue until the competition begins for the women’s preliminary round at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the opening ceremony.

“The timeline will be extremely tight to the beginning of the Olympics, the timeline is very tight. But we knew that,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated in a recent update.

The event that was supposed to test the Santagiulia playing surface was part of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been transferred to the Rho Fair hockey venue, which is being set up inside a massive exhibition hall on the outskirts of Milan and will host lesser games during the games.

Typically, new Olympic venues are trialled at least the prior year to hosting medal events. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not only about the playing surface and making sure that the playing surface is ready and safe. It’s additionally about testing concession stands, restrooms and everything else inside a newly constructed modern stadium.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being built by a commercial firm, is slated to become the nation's biggest covered stadium. Following the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a potential future host of the ATP Finals tennis tournament.

In spite of the postponements and worries, high-priced passes are already being purchased for matches at the Santagiulia venue. Tickets for the men’s gold medal final on 22 February – the final day of the games – are priced at as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). This exceeds the price of any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Only passes for the inaugural and final events cost more.

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

Men's Olympic hockey tournament is set to run from 11-22 February. The women’s event occurs from 5-19 February.