🔗 Share this article

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

With NHL players preparing to make a comeback to the Olympics for the initial occasion in over a decade, building work on the primary hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia facility originally planned for December has been moved to a more compact venue – and that no new test event has been scheduled yet.

The issue raises the prospect that there might not be a game held in the primary venue until the puck is dropped for the women's initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – one day before the opening ceremony.

“It’s going to be very close to the beginning of the Olympics, the timeline is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said in a recent update.

The competition that was intended to test the Santagiulia ice was part of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been transferred to the Rho Fair hockey location, which is being established inside a massive exhibition hall on the outskirts of Milan and will stage secondary matches during the Olympics.

Typically, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the year before to holding medal events. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not only about the ice and making sure that the playing surface is prepared and safe. It’s additionally about testing food outlets, restrooms and all other amenities inside a brand-new modern arena.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being built by a commercial firm, is slated to become the nation's largest indoor arena. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Finals tennis event.

Despite the delays and concerns, high-priced passes are already being purchased for events at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men’s gold medal game on 22 February – the final day of the Olympics – are priced at as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). That’s more than the price of any other sports event at the Milano Cortina Games. Only tickets for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.

The return of NHL players at the Olympics was announced last February, with the world’s top hockey league permitting its athletes to participate in the Winter Games for the initial occasion since 2014 in Sochi.

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