🔗 Share this article

Forget about thin ice. Currently, there’s no ice.

As NHL athletes preparing to return to the Olympic Games 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.

Local organizers announced on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia facility that was scheduled for December has been moved to a smaller arena – and that no new test event has been arranged yet.

This situation raises the prospect that there might not be a game 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 beginning of the Olympics, the schedule is highly compressed. But we knew that,” Milan-Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated recently.

The event that was supposed to evaluate the Santagiulia playing surface was part 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 exhibition hall on the outskirts of Milan and will host secondary matches during the Olympics.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the year before to hosting podium competitions. And with a sizable hockey arena, it’s not just about the ice and making sure that the playing surface is prepared and safe. It’s also about testing concession stands, bathrooms and all other amenities inside a brand-new modern arena.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being built by a private company, is slated to become the nation's largest indoor arena. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential future host of the ATP Finals tennis event.

In spite of the postponements and concerns, expensive passes are already being purchased for events at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men’s gold medal game on 22 February – the final day of the games – are priced at as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). That’s more than for any other sports event at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely tickets for the inaugural and final events cost more.

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

Men's Olympic hockey competition is scheduled to take place from 11-22 February. The women’s event occurs from 5-19 February.