As the NHL raises concerns about the status of the ice hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games, sources told ESPN on Wednesday that there is no indication the league will pull out of the event — despite reports that the arena surface is about 3 feet too short.
The NHL plans to send players to the 2026 Olympics in February for the first time since the 2014 Games in Sochi. The agreement between the NHL, the NHL Players’ Association and the International Ice Hockey Federation clearly states that Milan’s ice must be built to NHL standards.
However, construction of the main arena has not yet been completed, forcing organizers to push back the test events until January and causing concern among the NHL and NHLPA.
Tuesday, Athletic reported that the IIHF approved a 196.85-foot by 85.3-foot slab of ice in Milan, which is more than three feet shorter than the NHL’s standard dimensions of 200 feet by 85 feet. The issue was first raised publicly Monday by Team Canada assistant coach Pete DeBoer during an interview on Sportsnet Radio’s “Real Kyper and Bourne.” DeBoer, who visited Milan earlier this fall, said: “The ice surface, it looks like it’s going to be smaller than the standard for an NHL rink, probably 3 or 4 feet. I don’t understand how this happened.
The NHL has no control over the construction of the new 16,000-seat rink in suburban Milan and is still determined to make it work, sources told ESPN on Wednesday. THE Nashville Predators And Pittsburgh Penguins played games at Avicii Arena in Stockholm, Sweden, last month for the Global Series in an rink that was also slightly removed from NHL dimensions. The NHL’s solution was to move the lines to account for the missing ice surface in the neutral zone, rather than in either offensive zone.
Although the dimensions of the Olympic rink are not ideal and constitute a violation of the agreement between the NHL, NHLPA and IIHF, the league does not consider this a safety concern. An NHL player already named to an Olympic team told ESPN he doesn’t believe having the ice surface three feet shorter would affect the game too much. “With the level of talent there will already be no time and no space,” the player said. “The games are going to be amazing no matter what. Just give us a layer of ice and we’ll be fine.”
The league sent a contingent to Milan last month to check the condition of the rink and, according to sources, the main takeaway was that organizers were making progress but needed to speed things up. There is no backup plan if the main ice hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Winter Games is not ready in time.
The women’s hockey tournament is scheduled to begin on February 5. the men’s hockey tournament begins February 11.
The original plan was to use part of December’s U-20 World Championships as a test event. Typically, Olympic venues organize test events one year before the start of the Games. The new test event for the Milan Arena is now scheduled for January 9-11.
The NHL and NHLPA signed an agreement with the IIHF in July to return players to the Olympics, believing it to be an important event to help grow the game globally. The agreement covered several areas, including player accommodations, guest hotel and ticketing, and the role of the NHL and NHLPA in the event – which league sources often describe as being a partner or guest and not a host.
NHL players have already been warned, by their federations and the players’ association, that accommodations will be different from the standards they are used to and that things may not be perfect when they arrive. Locker rooms, for example, are supposed to be in trailers adjacent to the arenas. Teams from the United States and Canada plan to stay in the Olympic Village dormitories.
