Milan Ice Hockey Arena Delays May Force NHL Stars on Unproven Ice
Forget about thin ice. For now, there’s no ice.
As NHL athletes preparing to make a comeback to the Olympics for the initial occasion in over a ten years, building work on the main hockey venue for the Milano Cortina Games is cutting it close.
Local organizers announced on Wednesday that the main test event for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia arena originally planned for December has been moved to a smaller venue – and that no additional trial has been scheduled yet.
The issue raises the prospect that there might not be a match held in the main arena until the competition begins for the women's initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the inaugural event.
“The timeline will be extremely tight to the start of the Olympics, the timeline is highly compressed. But we knew that,” Milan-Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier stated recently.
The event that was supposed to test the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been transferred to the Rho Fiera hockey location, which is being set up inside a massive exhibition hall on Milan’s outskirts and will host secondary matches during the games.
Usually, new Olympic venues are trialled at least the prior year to hosting podium competitions. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not only about the playing surface and ensuring that the playing surface is prepared and safe. It’s additionally about testing food outlets, bathrooms and everything else inside a brand-new contemporary arena.
This new facility, which is being built by a private company, is slated to become Italy’s biggest covered stadium. For after the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.
In spite of the postponements and worries, high-priced passes are already being purchased for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Seats for the men's championship game on 22 February – the final day of the Olympics – 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. Only tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies cost more.
The return of NHL players at the Olympics was announced in February of last year, with the premier hockey organization permitting its players to participate in the Winter Olympics for the initial occasion since 2014 in Sochi.
Men's Olympic hockey tournament is set to run from 11-22 February. The women’s event runs from 5-19 February.