🔗 Share this article

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

As NHL players preparing to make a comeback to the Olympics for the first time in over a decade, building work on the main hockey arena for the Milano Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Officials confirmed on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-seat 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 competition begins for the women's initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – one day before the inaugural event.

“It’s going to be extremely tight to the beginning of the games, the timeline is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milan-Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated in a recent update.

The competition that was intended to evaluate the Santagiulia ice was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been moved to the Rho Fair hockey venue, which is being established inside a giant convention center on the outskirts of Milan and will stage secondary matches during the games.

Typically, freshly built Olympic facilities are tested at least the prior year to holding podium competitions. And with a large hockey venue, it’s not just about the ice and making sure that the rink is prepared and secure. It’s also about checking concession stands, bathrooms and everything else inside a newly constructed modern arena.

This new facility, which is being constructed by a commercial firm, is scheduled to become Italy’s biggest indoor arena. Following the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a potential upcoming venue of the ATP Finals tennis event.

Despite the postponements and worries, expensive passes are already being sold for events at the Santagiulia arena. Seats for the men’s gold medal game on 22 February – the closing day of the games – are priced at as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). That’s more than for any other athletic competition at the Milano Cortina Games. Only passes for the opening and closing ceremonies are priced higher.

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

The men’s Olympic hockey competition is scheduled to run from 11-22 February. The women’s event runs from 5-19 February.