Milan's Main Olympic Ice Rink Faces Unlikely Completion for NHL

For the first time in 12 years, hockey fans will witness NHL players hit the ice for the Olympics. But will those NHL players have a completed rink to play in? Sounds unlikely. With three weeks to go until the Olympics, more doubt is being cast on the readiness of the main venue for men’s ice hockey. After a test run at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena in Milan earlier this month, even some of the spectators didn’t believe that construction workers would meet the deadline. “Thinking that in a month the Olympic Games are supposed to be here seems impossible to believe,” a spectator at the rink recently told The New York Times. Apparently, an NHL executive is hearing the same thing. According to St. Louis Blues reporter Andy Strickland, a high-ranking NHL executive told him the rink in Milan won’t be ready in time for the Olympics. However, the main news that fans want to hear is that NHL players are still going and will compete, and that’s what Strickland’s source indicated. You can’t blame NHL players for being hungry to attend the Olympics, despite the questionable conditions, shrunken neutral zone, and unfinished construction. “Guys don’t care,” Brad Marchand told Deseret News. “No one’s talked about it. No one’s worried about it.” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly recently said that if the ice is unsafe, the players won’t play. However, those concerns seem to have diminished after the test games earlier this month, even though a hole appeared on the ice during game action. One skater who played in the test match told The New York Times that “Some patches of ice were harder, while others were softer. “So you just need a bit of time.” Well, time is dwindling. But at least it sounds like games will be played. The first game at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena is scheduled to take place between Italy and France for women’s hockey on Feb. 5, while the first game for the men at the arena will be played between Slovakia and Finland on Feb. 11.