Forget about poor conditions. Currently, there’s no ice.
As NHL players preparing to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in more than a ten years, building work on the primary hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is cutting it close.
Local organizers announced on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia arena that was scheduled for December has been relocated to a more compact arena – and that no new test event has been arranged yet.
This situation raises the prospect that there may not be a match held in the primary venue until the puck is dropped for the women’s preliminary round at the Olympics on 5 February – one day before the inaugural event.
“It’s going to be extremely tight to the start of the games, the schedule is very tight. But we knew that,” Milan-Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier stated in a recent update.
The event 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 Fair hockey venue, which is being set up inside a giant convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will host secondary matches during the Olympics.
Typically, freshly built Olympic facilities are tested at least the year before to hosting medal events. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not only about the playing surface and making sure that the rink is prepared and safe. It’s additionally about testing food outlets, bathrooms and all other amenities inside a brand-new modern stadium.
The Santagiulia venue, which is being built by a commercial firm, is scheduled to become the nation's biggest covered stadium. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.
In spite of the delays and worries, expensive tickets are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men’s gold medal final on 22 February – the closing day of the Olympics – are going for as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). That’s more than the price of any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Only passes for the inaugural and final events cost more.
The comeback of NHL players at the Olympics was revealed last February, with the premier hockey league permitting its players to participate in the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.
Men's Olympic hockey competition is set to take place from 11-22 February. The women’s tournament occurs from 5-19 February.
