🔗 Share this article

Put aside thin ice. Currently, there’s no ice.

With NHL athletes gearing up to return to the Olympics for the first time in over a ten years, building work on the main hockey arena for the Milano Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the main test event for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia facility that was scheduled for December has been moved to a more compact arena – and that no new test event has been scheduled yet.

The issue creates the possibility that there may not be a game held in the primary venue until the competition begins for the women's initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – one day before the opening ceremony.

“It’s going to be extremely tight to the start of the Olympics, the timeline is highly compressed. But we knew that,” Milano Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said in a recent update.

The competition that was intended to test the Santagiulia playing surface was part of the U20 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 exhibition hall on the outskirts of Milan and will host secondary matches during the games.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are tested at least the year before to holding medal events. And with a sizable hockey arena, it’s not just about the playing surface and making sure that the rink is prepared and secure. It’s additionally about testing concession stands, bathrooms and everything else inside a brand-new contemporary arena.

This new facility, which is being built by a commercial firm, is slated to become Italy’s largest indoor arena. Following the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a possible future host of the ATP Finals tennis event.

In spite of the postponements and concerns, high-priced tickets are already being purchased for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men's championship game on 22 February – the final day of the Olympics – are going for as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). This exceeds the price of any other sports event at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely passes for the opening and closing ceremonies are priced higher.

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

Men's Olympic hockey tournament is set to run from 11-22 February. Women's tournament occurs from 5-19 February.