Milano Ice Hockey Arena Setbacks Could Leave NHL Players on Untested Playing Surface
Forget about poor conditions. Currently, there’s no ice.
With NHL athletes preparing to return to the Olympic Games for the first time in more than a ten years, building work on the primary hockey arena for the Milano Cortina Games is going down to the wire.
Local organizers announced on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia facility originally planned for December has been relocated to a smaller arena – and that no new test event has been scheduled yet.
The issue raises the prospect that there might 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 extremely tight to the beginning of the games, the timeline 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 playing surface was part of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been transferred to the Rho Fiera hockey venue, which is being established inside a giant exhibition hall on Milan’s outskirts and will host lesser games during the games.
Typically, new Olympic venues are trialled at least the prior year to hosting podium competitions. And with a large hockey arena, it’s not just about the ice and ensuring that the rink is prepared and secure. It’s additionally about testing concession stands, restrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed contemporary stadium.
The Santagiulia venue, which is being constructed by a commercial firm, is scheduled to become Italy’s largest indoor arena. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis tournament.
Despite the postponements and concerns, expensive tickets are already being sold for events at the Santagiulia arena. 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 for any other athletic competition at the Milano Cortina Games. Solely tickets for the inaugural and final events cost more.
The return of NHL players at the Olympics was announced last February, with the world’s top hockey organization permitting 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. Women's event runs from 5-19 February.
