🔗 Share this article

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

With NHL athletes gearing up to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the first time in over a ten years, building work on the primary hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Local organizers confirmed on Wednesday that the main test event for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia arena that was scheduled 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 may not be a match 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.

“It’s going to be very close to the start of the games, the schedule is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier stated recently.

The event that was supposed to evaluate the Santagiulia ice was part of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been moved to the Rho Fiera hockey venue, which is being set up inside a giant exhibition hall on the outskirts of Milan and will stage lesser games during the Olympics.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the prior year to holding medal events. And with a large hockey venue, it’s not only about the playing surface and ensuring that the rink is ready and safe. It’s additionally about checking food outlets, bathrooms and everything else inside a newly constructed contemporary stadium.

This new facility, which is being constructed by a private company, is scheduled to become the nation's largest indoor arena. For after the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis tournament.

In spite of the delays and concerns, high-priced passes are already being sold for events at the Santagiulia venue. Tickets for the men's championship game on 22 February – the final day of the Olympics – are priced at as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). That’s more than for any other sports event at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies are priced higher.

The return of NHL stars at the Olympics was announced last February, with the world’s top hockey organization allowing its players to compete in the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

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