Ice hockey-Under pressure, Santagiulia's final rush to prepare for first game

MILAN, Feb 4 - The buzz of works whirred through the Santagiulia arena the day before the Olympic ice hockey tournament was due to begin at the Milano Cortina Games, as workers scrambled to get the marquee venue ready and players shrugged off concerns about the ice.

As players train on the Santagiulia's rink, dozens of workers are racing around the clock to get the site ready for its first match on Thursday, when host team Italy will face France in the women's event.

The built-from-scratch arena has been the subject of great concern as organisers raced to finish the 15,300-seater venue.

"Construction works, they're done," said Veronika Muehlhofer, event and venue general manager at Fondazione Milano Cortina 2026.

"Then obviously now what's happening is some of the finishing touches and obviously always the day and night before the first game. Then it's just going to be a lot more cleaning to do for everything to look as beautiful as possible and spick and span to be welcoming the first spectators into the venue," she said.

"Today you will see a lot of cablers from the broadcasting teams that are joining and have joined in the last few days to prepare the games. You'll have some of the sponsors outfitting their areas to promote their products and things like that."

The area surrounding the Santagiulia facility remains largely barren, with extensive sections of the construction site yet to be cleared.

The arena hosted its first test event as recently as last month, when play was stopped to fix a small hole that had developed in the ice. The playing surface was confirmed to be a few feet shorter than normal NHL standards, as it is at the other ice hockey venues.

France defenceman and former NHL player Yohann Auvitu said on Wednesday he did not expect perfect ice.

"It's nowhere in the world good. At the end of the day, I've been playing all around. When you play in Florida and it's 35 degrees outside, it's not good. That's how it is, so no complaints. There's going to be three games a day. So I'm not expecting to have good ice. Just handle it," he said after practice on the Santagiulia rink.

Auvitu said the arena was pretty nice.

"Locker rooms are fine. We have a little walk to get there. But no, those things don't really matter. It's nowhere perfect, so I'm not expecting perfection here," he said.

The Olympics welcome back National Hockey League players for the first time since 2014, bringing a brighter spotlight on the event.

The IOC's Olympic Games Executive Director Christophe Dubi said this week that it was not necessary to have every single space at the Santagiulia venue finished, but that anything that is public-facing or related to athletes and media would be ready.

"Anytime you're preparing for a hockey tournament, it's a big countdown until we drop the first puck and with a small sigh of relief," Muehlhofer said. REUTERS