Milan Ice Hockey Venue Delays May Force NHL Stars on Unproven Playing Surface
Forget about poor conditions. Currently, there’s no ice.
As NHL athletes gearing up to return to the Olympic Games for the first time in more than a ten years, construction on the primary hockey arena for the Milano Cortina Games is going down to the wire.
Local organizers announced on Wednesday that the primary test event for the 16,000-seat 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 match held in the main arena until the competition begins 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 Olympics, the timeline is very tight. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated recently.
The event that was supposed to test the Santagiulia playing surface was part of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been moved to the Rho Fair hockey venue, which is being set up inside a giant exhibition hall on Milan’s outskirts and will stage secondary matches during the Olympics.
Typically, new Olympic venues are trialled at least the year before to holding medal events. And with a large hockey venue, it’s not just about the playing surface and ensuring that the rink is ready and safe. It’s additionally about checking concession stands, restrooms and everything else inside a newly constructed modern stadium.
This new facility, which is being built by a private company, is slated to become Italy’s biggest indoor arena. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible future host of the ATP Tour Finals tennis tournament.
In spite of the delays and concerns, high-priced tickets are already being sold for events at the Santagiulia venue. Tickets for the men's championship game on 22 February – the closing day of the Olympics – are priced at as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). This exceeds for any other sports event at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely tickets for the inaugural and final events cost more.
The return of NHL players at the Olympics was revealed last February, with the premier hockey league allowing its athletes to compete in the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.
Men's Olympic hockey tournament is scheduled to take place from 11-22 February. Women's tournament occurs from 5-19 February.
