🔗 Share this article

Forget about thin ice. Currently, there’s no ice.

With NHL players preparing to return to the Olympic Games for the first time in over a ten years, building work on the main hockey venue for the Milano Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

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

The issue raises the prospect that there may not be a match 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 inaugural event.

“The timeline will be very close to the start of the Olympics, the schedule is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier stated in a recent update.

The competition that was supposed to evaluate the Santagiulia ice was part of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been moved to the Rho Fiera hockey venue, which is being established inside a massive convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will stage secondary matches during the Olympics.

Usually, new Olympic venues are tested at least the prior year to holding medal events. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not only about the playing surface and ensuring that the rink is ready and safe. It’s also about checking concession stands, restrooms and everything else inside a brand-new contemporary stadium.

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

In spite of the delays and concerns, expensive tickets are already being purchased for events at the Santagiulia venue. Seats for the men's championship final on 22 February – the final day of the Olympics – 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 passes for the opening and closing ceremonies cost more.

The comeback of NHL players at the Olympics was revealed last February, with the premier hockey league permitting its players to compete in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

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