Milan Ice Hockey Arena Setbacks May Leave NHL Players on Unproven Playing Surface
Put aside thin ice. Currently, there’s no ice.
With NHL athletes preparing to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in over a decade, building work on the main hockey venue for the Milan-Cortina Games is cutting it close.
Officials confirmed on Wednesday that the main test event for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia arena originally planned for December has been moved to a more compact arena – and that no new test event has been scheduled yet.
The issue creates the possibility that there might not be a game held in the primary venue until the puck is dropped for the women's initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the opening ceremony.
“The timeline will be very close to the beginning of the games, the schedule is highly compressed. But we knew that,” Milan-Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated in a recent update.
The event that was supposed to test the Santagiulia ice was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been moved to the Rho Fiera hockey venue, which is being established inside a massive convention center on the outskirts of Milan and will stage lesser games during the Olympics.
Typically, new Olympic venues are tested at least the prior year to hosting medal events. And with a large hockey arena, it’s not just about the ice and ensuring that the rink is ready and secure. It’s also about testing food outlets, bathrooms and everything else inside a brand-new contemporary stadium.
The Santagiulia venue, which is being constructed by a commercial firm, is scheduled to become the nation's biggest indoor arena. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible future host of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.
Despite the delays and concerns, high-priced tickets are already being purchased for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men's championship game on 22 February – the final day of the games – are priced at as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). That’s more than for any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Only passes for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.
The comeback 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 Games for the initial occasion since 2014 in Sochi.
The men’s Olympic hockey tournament is scheduled to run from 11-22 February. Women's event runs from 5-19 February.