🔗 Share this article

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

With NHL athletes gearing up to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in over a decade, construction on the main hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the main test event for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia arena that was scheduled for December has been moved to a smaller arena – and that no new test event has been arranged yet.

This situation creates the possibility that there might not be a game held in the primary venue until the puck is dropped 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 start of the Olympics, the timeline is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milan-Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said in a recent update.

The event that was intended to evaluate the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been transferred to the Rho Fiera hockey location, which is being established inside a massive convention center on the outskirts of Milan and will stage secondary matches during the Olympics.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the year before to holding podium competitions. And with a sizable hockey arena, it’s not just about the playing surface and making sure that the playing surface is ready and secure. It’s also about testing food outlets, restrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed contemporary stadium.

This new facility, which is being constructed by a private company, is slated to become Italy’s largest covered stadium. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible future host of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.

Despite the postponements and worries, expensive tickets are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia venue. Seats for the men’s gold medal final on 22 February – the closing day of the games – are going for as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds the price of any other sports event at the Milano Cortina Games. Only tickets for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.

The return of NHL players at the Olympics was announced in February of last year, with the world’s top hockey organization permitting its players to compete in the Winter Olympics for the initial occasion since 2014 in Sochi.

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