Milano Hockey Venue Setbacks Could Leave NHL Players on Untested Playing Surface
Forget about thin ice. Currently, there’s no ice.
As NHL athletes gearing up to return to the Olympic Games 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 primary test event for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia facility that was scheduled for December has been relocated to a smaller venue – and that no additional trial has been arranged yet.
This situation 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 highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milan-Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier stated recently.
The event that was supposed to evaluate the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been moved to the Rho Fair hockey location, which is being set up inside a giant convention center on the outskirts of Milan and will stage lesser games during the Olympics.
Typically, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the prior year to holding medal events. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not just about the ice and making sure that the playing surface is ready and secure. It’s additionally about checking concession stands, restrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed modern arena.
This new facility, which is being constructed by a private company, is slated to become Italy’s biggest indoor arena. For after the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Finals tennis event.
Despite the delays and concerns, high-priced tickets are already being sold for events at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men’s gold medal final on 22 February – the closing day of the games – are going for as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds for any other athletic competition at the Milano Cortina Games. Only passes for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.
The comeback of NHL players at the Olympics was revealed last February, with the world’s top hockey league allowing its players to participate in the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.
Men's Olympic hockey tournament is set to run from 11-22 February. Women's event runs from 5-19 February.
