Milan Ice Hockey Arena Setbacks May Leave NHL Stars on Untested Playing Surface

Forget about poor conditions. Currently, there’s no ice.

With NHL athletes gearing up to return to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in over a decade, construction on the primary hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Local organizers confirmed on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia facility originally planned for December has been relocated to a smaller arena – 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 puck is dropped for the women’s preliminary round at the Olympics on 5 February – one day before the inaugural event.

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

The competition that was intended to test the Santagiulia ice was part of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been transferred to the Rho Fair hockey venue, which is being set up inside a giant convention center on the outskirts of Milan and will stage lesser games during the games.

Usually, new Olympic venues are trialled at least the year before to holding medal events. And with a large hockey venue, it’s not only about the playing surface and making sure that the rink is ready and safe. It’s additionally about testing concession stands, bathrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed contemporary arena.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being constructed by a commercial firm, is scheduled to become Italy’s largest covered stadium. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.

In spite of the delays and concerns, high-priced tickets are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men's championship final on 22 February – the final day of the games – are priced at as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds the price of any other sports event at the Milano Cortina Games. Only tickets for the inaugural and final events cost more.

The comeback of NHL players at the Olympics was revealed in February of last year, with the world’s top hockey league permitting its athletes to compete in the Winter Olympics 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 runs from 5-19 February.