2026 Winter Olympics less than two months left, and NHL says that if the hockey rinks are not ready on time or are unsafe, the league's players “will not go” to the Games.
On Tuesday the match took place at the secondary stadium “Rho Ice”. Hockey The arena, one of two planned venues for hockey games at the Cortina games in Milan in February.
But the question remains whether Santagiulia's main hockey arena will be ready in time, even as officials say the 16,000-seat facility will be playable.
Concerns surrounding the skating rink center not only on whether the facility will be ready, but whether the ice will even be playable.
“They haven't made the ice yet,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said at a news conference Wednesday in Winnipeg. “So we don’t know yet how good the ice is at rink number one.”
The February Olympics will be the first since 2014 to feature NHL players.
The NHL says it sent its own ice experts to help with preparations, but the league says until the surface is tested by skaters and heat from many fans in the arena, it may not be clear whether the quality will be good enough.
“If the ice isn't ready and it's not safe, then we won't go,” NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly said. “I mean, I think it's self-explanatory.”
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The size of the rinks is also an issue: The NHL was caught off guard earlier this year when it became clear that the size of both rinks would be slightly wider and three feet shorter than what the league and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) had agreed upon.
Daly told The Associated Press that the league and the NHL Players Association have reminded the IIHF that they expect the ice surface at the 2030 Winter Games in France to be NHL standard size.
During Tuesday's match, Japan captain Daigo Hotta said the ice at Ro's rink was firm for the game, although he said it was “a little soft” during pregame skating. According to Hott, the size was immediately noticeable.
“I'm playing in the States again. The rinks are pretty small, but I think this is one of the smallest rinks I've ever played on,” Hotta said. “The neutral zone is smaller. The space between the dots and the boards. I think everything is a little smaller than usual.”
The match was part of this week's Under-20 World Cup tournament.
Daly admitted that there was “really some misunderstanding” between the groups.
The head of Milano Cortina's gaming department recently responded to questions about the size of the rink, noting that the ice surfaces comply with IIHF rules. The official also said the ice is the same size as rinks in Beijing in 2022 and in Stockholm, Sweden, where the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators played twice last month as part of the NHL Global Series.
“Obviously the sizes of the rinks are different, but if you come to play in Europe, all the rinks are the same size,” Andrea Franzisi said on Tuesday. “So somehow you have to adapt to that dimension.”
The NHL says it is trying to put the issue behind it, saying it won't make much of a difference to the game, but there remains great concern that no Olympic hockey facility has ever been this far from completion or this close to being completed.
The first hockey game of the Olympics will take place on February 5, when the women's tournament begins.
—with files from Mike Armstrong of Global News and the Associated Press
© 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
