🔗 Share this article

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

As NHL athletes preparing to return to the Olympic Games for the first time in more than a decade, building work on the main hockey venue for the Milan-Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia facility that was scheduled for December has been relocated to a smaller venue – and that no additional trial has been scheduled yet.

This situation creates the possibility that there may 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 – 24 hours before the opening ceremony.

“It’s going to be very close to the start of the games, the schedule is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” 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. That event has been moved to the Rho Fiera hockey venue, which is being set up inside a giant convention center on the outskirts of Milan and will stage lesser games during the games.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the year before to holding medal events. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not only about the playing surface and making sure that the rink is ready and secure. It’s additionally about checking concession stands, bathrooms and everything else inside a newly constructed modern stadium.

This new facility, which is being built by a private company, is slated to become the nation's biggest indoor arena. For after the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a possible future host of the ATP Tour Finals tennis tournament.

In spite of the delays and concerns, high-priced passes are already being purchased for events 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. Solely passes for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.

The comeback of NHL stars at the Olympics was revealed in February of last year, with the premier hockey organization allowing its athletes to participate in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

The men’s Olympic hockey tournament is scheduled to take place from 11-22 February. Women's event runs from 5-19 February.