🔗 Share this article

Put aside thin ice. For now, the surface isn't ready.

As NHL athletes preparing to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in more than a decade, construction on the primary hockey venue for the Milano Cortina Games is cutting it close.

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

This situation creates the possibility that there may not be a game held in the main arena until the puck is dropped for the women's initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the inaugural event.

“It’s going to be very close to the start of the Olympics, the timeline is very tight. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.

The event that was intended to evaluate the Santagiulia ice was part of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been moved 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 games.

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 playing surface and making sure that the playing surface is ready and safe. It’s also about testing concession stands, bathrooms and everything else inside a newly constructed modern stadium.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being constructed by a private company, is scheduled to become Italy’s biggest covered stadium. For after the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a potential upcoming venue of the ATP Finals tennis tournament.

In spite of the postponements and concerns, high-priced tickets are already being purchased for matches at the Santagiulia venue. 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 for any other athletic competition at the Milano Cortina Games. Only tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies cost more.

The return of NHL players at the Olympics was announced in February of last year, with the premier hockey organization allowing its players to compete in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

Men's Olympic hockey tournament is scheduled to run from 11-22 February. The women’s event runs from 5-19 February.