🔗 Share this article

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

As NHL athletes gearing up to make a comeback to the Olympics for the first time in over a ten years, construction on the primary hockey arena for the Milano Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia arena that was scheduled for December has been moved to a more compact venue – and that no additional trial has been arranged yet.

The issue 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 inaugural event.

“The timeline will be very close to the beginning of the games, the timeline is very tight. But we knew that,” Milan-Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said in a recent update.

The event that was supposed to evaluate the Santagiulia ice was part of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been transferred to the Rho Fair hockey venue, which is being established inside a massive exhibition hall on Milan’s outskirts and will host lesser games during the Olympics.

Typically, new Olympic venues are trialled at least the year before to holding podium competitions. And with a large hockey venue, it’s not only about the playing surface and making sure that the playing surface is ready and secure. It’s additionally about checking food outlets, bathrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed modern stadium.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being built by a private company, is slated to become Italy’s biggest indoor arena. For after the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a possible future host of the ATP Tour Finals tennis tournament.

In spite of the postponements and concerns, high-priced tickets are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Seats for the men's championship final on 22 February – the final day of the games – are going for as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds the price of any other sports event at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely passes for the inaugural and final events cost more.

The return of NHL stars at the Olympics was announced in February of last year, with the premier hockey organization permitting its athletes to participate in the Winter Games for the initial occasion since 2014 in Sochi.

Men's Olympic hockey competition is set to take place from 11-22 February. The women’s tournament occurs from 5-19 February.