🔗 Share this article

Forget about thin ice. For now, the surface isn't ready.

As NHL athletes gearing up to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in over a decade, building work on the main hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia facility that was scheduled for December has been relocated to a smaller arena – and that no additional trial has been scheduled yet.

The issue creates the possibility that there might not be a match held in the main arena until the puck is dropped 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 schedule is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milan-Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier stated recently.

The competition that was intended to evaluate the Santagiulia ice was a segment of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been transferred to the Rho Fair hockey venue, which is being established inside a massive convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will stage secondary matches during the games.

Usually, new Olympic venues are trialled at least the year before to hosting podium competitions. And with a large hockey arena, it’s not only about the ice and ensuring that the playing surface is ready and secure. It’s additionally about checking concession stands, restrooms and everything else inside a newly constructed modern arena.

This new facility, which is being constructed by a commercial firm, is slated to become the nation's largest indoor arena. For after the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.

Despite the delays and worries, high-priced tickets are already being purchased for matches at the Santagiulia venue. Seats for the men's championship game on 22 February – the closing 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 Milano Cortina Games. Only tickets for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.

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

The men’s Olympic hockey tournament is scheduled to take place from 11-22 February. Women's event runs from 5-19 February.