Milano Hockey Venue Delays May Leave NHL Players on Untested Playing Surface

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

As NHL players gearing up to make a comeback to the Olympics for the first time in more than a decade, building work on the main hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Officials confirmed on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-capacity 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 game held in the primary venue until the competition begins for the women’s preliminary round at the Olympics on 5 February – one day before the opening ceremony.

“It’s going to be very close to the beginning of the games, the schedule is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.

The competition that was supposed to evaluate the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been transferred to the Rho Fiera hockey venue, which is being set up inside a giant convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will stage lesser games during the Olympics.

Typically, freshly built Olympic facilities are tested at least the prior year to holding medal events. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not just about the ice and making sure that the playing surface is ready and secure. It’s additionally about checking food outlets, bathrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed modern stadium.

This new facility, which is being built by a private company, is slated to become the nation's largest indoor arena. For after the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a possible future host of the ATP Finals tennis tournament.

In spite of the delays and concerns, expensive passes are already being sold for events at the Santagiulia venue. Tickets for the men's championship game on 22 February – the final day of the Olympics – are priced at as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). This exceeds for any other sports event at the Milan-Cortina Games. Only passes for the inaugural and final events cost more.

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

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