Forget about thin ice. For now, there’s no ice.
As NHL athletes gearing up to return to the Olympic Games for the first time in more than a decade, building work on the primary hockey venue for the Milano Cortina Games is going down to the wire.
Local organizers announced on Wednesday that the main test event for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia arena that was scheduled for December has been moved to a more compact venue – and that no additional trial has been arranged yet.
The issue creates the possibility that there may not be a game held in the main arena until the puck is dropped for the women’s preliminary round at the Olympics on 5 February – one day before the inaugural event.
“The timeline will be very close to the start of the games, the schedule is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.
The event that was supposed 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 Fiera hockey location, which is being set up inside a massive convention center on the outskirts of Milan and will host lesser games during the Olympics.
Typically, freshly built Olympic facilities are tested at least the year before to hosting medal events. And with a large hockey arena, it’s not only about the ice and making sure that the rink is ready and safe. It’s also about checking concession stands, restrooms and everything else inside a brand-new modern arena.
The Santagiulia venue, which is being built by a commercial firm, is slated to become Italy’s largest indoor arena. For after the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.
Despite the postponements and worries, high-priced passes are already being purchased for events at the Santagiulia arena. Seats for the men’s gold medal game on 22 February – the closing day of the games – are going for as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). That’s more than for any other athletic competition at the Milano Cortina Games. Solely passes for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.
The comeback of NHL stars at the Olympics was revealed in February of last year, with the world’s top hockey league permitting its players to participate in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.
The men’s Olympic hockey tournament is set to run from 11-22 February. Women's event occurs from 5-19 February.
A geospatial analyst with over a decade of experience in terrain modeling and environmental data visualization.
