🔗 Share this article

Put aside poor conditions. Currently, there’s no ice.

With NHL athletes gearing up to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in over a decade, construction on the main hockey arena for the Milano Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Officials confirmed on Wednesday that the main trial competition for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia arena originally planned for December has been relocated to a smaller arena – and that no new test event has been scheduled yet.

This situation 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 inaugural event.

“It’s going to be very close to the start of the games, the timeline is highly compressed. But we knew that,” Milan-Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said in a recent update.

The competition that was supposed to test the Santagiulia ice was part of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been transferred to the Rho Fiera hockey location, which is being set up inside a massive convention center on the outskirts of Milan and will stage secondary matches during the Olympics.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are tested at least the year before to holding podium competitions. And with a sizable hockey arena, it’s not just about the ice and making sure that the rink is ready and safe. It’s also about checking concession stands, restrooms and everything else inside a brand-new contemporary arena.

This new facility, which is being built by a private company, is scheduled to become Italy’s largest indoor arena. Following the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a possible future host of the ATP Finals tennis tournament.

Despite the postponements and concerns, high-priced passes are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men’s gold medal final on 22 February – the closing day of the Olympics – are going for as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds for any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Only passes for the inaugural and final events cost more.

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

Men's Olympic hockey competition is scheduled to take place from 11-22 February. Women's tournament runs from 5-19 February.