Milano Ice Hockey Venue Delays Could Force NHL Players on Unproven Playing Surface
Forget about poor conditions. Currently, there’s no ice.
With NHL players preparing to return to the Olympic Games for the first time in more than a ten years, construction on the primary hockey venue for the Milano Cortina Games is going down to the wire.
Local organizers confirmed on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia arena that was scheduled for December has been moved to a smaller venue – and that no additional trial 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 preliminary round at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the opening ceremony.
“The timeline will be extremely tight to the beginning of the games, the schedule is highly compressed. But we knew that,” Milan-Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.
The competition that was intended to test the Santagiulia ice was a segment of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been transferred to the Rho Fiera hockey location, which is being set up inside a giant exhibition hall on Milan’s outskirts and will host lesser games during the games.
Usually, 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 ice and making sure that the playing surface is prepared and safe. It’s additionally about checking food outlets, restrooms and everything else inside a newly constructed contemporary stadium.
The Santagiulia venue, which is being built by a commercial firm, is scheduled to become Italy’s biggest covered stadium. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible future host of the ATP Finals tennis event.
In spite of the postponements and worries, expensive passes are already being purchased for matches at the Santagiulia venue. Seats for the men’s gold medal final on 22 February – the final day of the Olympics – are priced at as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). That’s more than the price of any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies are priced higher.
The return of NHL stars at the Olympics was revealed in February of last year, with the world’s top hockey organization allowing its athletes to compete in the Winter Games for the initial occasion since 2014 in Sochi.
Men's Olympic hockey tournament is set to take place from 11-22 February. Women's tournament occurs from 5-19 February.
