Milano Hockey Venue Setbacks May Leave NHL Stars on Unproven Playing Surface

Forget about thin ice. Currently, the surface isn't ready.

With NHL athletes preparing to return to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in over a ten years, building work on the main hockey venue for the Milan-Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Officials confirmed on Wednesday that the main trial competition for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia arena originally planned for December has been moved to a more compact arena – and that no new test event has been arranged yet.

The issue creates the possibility that there may not be a game held in the primary venue until the competition begins for the women's initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the opening ceremony.

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

The competition that was supposed to test the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been moved to the Rho Fair hockey location, which is being set up inside a giant exhibition hall on the outskirts of Milan and will stage lesser games during the Olympics.

Typically, freshly built Olympic facilities are tested at least the prior year to hosting medal events. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not only about the playing surface and making sure that the rink is prepared and secure. It’s also about testing food outlets, bathrooms and everything else inside a newly constructed modern arena.

This new facility, which is being constructed by a commercial firm, is scheduled 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 event.

In spite of the delays and concerns, high-priced passes are already being sold for events at the Santagiulia arena. Seats for the men's championship game on 22 February – the closing day of the games – are priced at as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds the price of any other athletic competition at the Milano Cortina Games. Solely tickets for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.

The return of NHL players at the Olympics was revealed last February, with the world’s top hockey organization allowing its players to compete in the Winter Games for the initial occasion since 2014 in Sochi.

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