🔗 Share this article

Forget about poor conditions. Currently, the surface isn't ready.

With NHL athletes preparing to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in more than a decade, construction on the main hockey venue for the Milan-Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia facility originally planned for December has been relocated to a smaller venue – and that no new test event has been arranged yet.

The issue raises the prospect that there might 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 – 24 hours before the inaugural event.

“The timeline will be very close to the start of the games, the schedule is very tight. But we knew that,” Milan-Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated recently.

The event that was intended to evaluate 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 location, which is being set up inside a massive convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will stage lesser games during the games.

Typically, new Olympic venues are tested at least the year before to holding medal events. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not just about the ice and ensuring that the rink is ready and safe. It’s also about testing concession stands, restrooms and all other amenities inside a brand-new contemporary arena.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being built by a commercial firm, is slated to become Italy’s biggest indoor arena. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential future host of the ATP Finals tennis event.

Despite the postponements and concerns, expensive passes are already being purchased for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men’s gold medal final 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 athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Only tickets for the inaugural and final events cost more.

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

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