Milan Hockey Venue Delays Could Force NHL Players on Unproven Playing Surface
Put aside poor conditions. For now, the surface isn't ready.
As NHL athletes gearing up to make a comeback to the Olympics for the initial occasion in more than a decade, construction on the primary hockey venue for the Milan-Cortina Games is going down to the wire.
Local organizers announced on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia facility originally planned for December has been relocated to a more compact venue – and that no new test event has been arranged yet.
This situation creates the possibility that there might not be a game 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 opening ceremony.
“The timeline will be very close to the start of the games, the timeline is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated in a recent update.
The competition that was intended to evaluate the Santagiulia playing surface was part of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been moved 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 games.
Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the prior year to holding podium competitions. And with a sizable hockey arena, it’s not just about the ice and making sure that the playing surface is ready and safe. It’s also about testing concession stands, restrooms and everything else inside a brand-new contemporary stadium.
The Santagiulia venue, which is being built by a commercial firm, is scheduled to become Italy’s biggest indoor arena. For after the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis tournament.
Despite the delays and worries, high-priced passes are already being purchased for events at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men’s gold medal final on 22 February – the closing 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 Milano Cortina Games. Solely passes for the inaugural and final events cost more.
The comeback of NHL players at the Olympics was announced last February, with the world’s top hockey league allowing its players to compete in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.
The men’s Olympic hockey competition is scheduled to run from 11-22 February. Women's tournament occurs from 5-19 February.