🔗 Share this article

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

As NHL players preparing to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the first time in more than a ten years, building work on the main hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the main 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 creates the possibility that there might not be a match held in the primary venue until the competition begins for the women's initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – one day before the opening ceremony.

“The timeline will be extremely tight to the beginning of the games, the schedule is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milan-Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier stated recently.

The competition that was supposed 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 venue, which is being set up inside a giant exhibition hall on Milan’s outskirts and will stage secondary matches during the Olympics.

Typically, freshly built Olympic facilities are tested at least the year before to hosting medal events. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not only about the ice and ensuring that the rink is prepared and secure. It’s additionally about testing food outlets, restrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed modern stadium.

This new facility, which is being built by a private company, is slated to become the nation's largest covered stadium. Following the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a potential upcoming venue of the ATP Finals tennis event.

In spite of the postponements and concerns, expensive tickets are already being purchased for events at the Santagiulia venue. Tickets for the men’s gold medal game on 22 February – the final day of the games – are going for as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds for any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Only tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies are priced higher.

The return of NHL stars at the Olympics was announced last February, with the premier hockey organization allowing its players to compete in the Winter Games for the initial occasion since 2014 in Sochi.

Men's Olympic hockey competition is set to run from 11-22 February. The women’s tournament occurs from 5-19 February.