🔗 Share this article

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

With NHL players preparing to return 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 confirmed on Wednesday that the primary test event for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia arena originally planned for December has been relocated to a smaller arena – and that no new test event has been arranged yet.

This situation creates the possibility that there might not be a match held in the primary venue until the puck is dropped for the women's initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the opening ceremony.

“The timeline will be extremely tight to the beginning of the Olympics, the timeline is very tight. But we knew that,” Milan-Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.

The event that was intended to test the Santagiulia ice was a segment of the U20 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 exhibition hall on the outskirts of Milan and will stage lesser games during the Olympics.

Typically, new Olympic venues are trialled at least the prior year to hosting medal events. And with a large hockey arena, it’s not only about the playing surface and making sure that the playing surface is ready and safe. It’s also about checking food outlets, restrooms and all other amenities inside a brand-new modern stadium.

This new facility, which is being built by a private company, is scheduled to become Italy’s biggest indoor arena. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.

Despite the postponements and concerns, expensive passes are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men's championship game on 22 February – the final day of the Olympics – are priced at as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). This exceeds for any other athletic competition at the Milano Cortina Games. Only tickets for the inaugural and final events cost more.

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

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