🔗 Share this article

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

With NHL athletes preparing to return to the Olympics for the first time in over a ten years, building work on the main hockey arena for the Milano Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

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

The issue raises the prospect that there may not be a game held in the main arena until the puck is dropped for the women’s preliminary round at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the inaugural event.

“It’s going to be very close to the start of the Olympics, the timeline is highly compressed. But we knew that,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated in a recent update.

The competition that was intended to evaluate the Santagiulia playing surface was part of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been transferred to the Rho Fiera hockey venue, which is being established inside a massive exhibition hall on Milan’s outskirts and will host lesser games during the Olympics.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the prior year to holding medal events. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not only about the playing surface and making sure that the rink is ready and secure. It’s also about testing concession stands, restrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed modern stadium.

This new facility, which is being constructed by a commercial firm, is scheduled to become Italy’s largest covered stadium. For after the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible future host of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.

In spite of the postponements and worries, expensive passes are already being purchased for events at the Santagiulia venue. Seats for the men's championship game on 22 February – the final day of the games – are going for as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). That’s more than for any other sports event at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely passes for the opening and closing ceremonies are priced higher.

The comeback of NHL stars at the Olympics was revealed in February of last year, with the premier hockey league permitting its athletes to compete in the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

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