WINNIPEG — Josh Morrissey hopes he'll soon have to formally think about what the hockey rink and ice conditions will be like at the upcoming Milan Olympics.
Winnipeg Jets The defenseman is expected to be named to Team Canada later this month and joins other players wondering whether the main rink in Italy will be ready in time and how good the ice will be for competition in February.
“You try not to think about it too much and just go out and play your game, but obviously it's something that I'm sure for most guys, and definitely for me, I've been dreaming about this opportunity since I was a little kid,” the Calgary native said Wednesday about playing in the Olympics.
Morrissey said players are used to skating on different quality ice, but it's out of their control, and he's confident management will understand that.
“If you look at a lot of the Olympics, there are so many buildings to build and so many logistics to put together,” he said.
“Oftentimes it takes a little bit of a sprint to the finish line, so I have faith that everything will get done and we will be there and the NHL players will be there and everything will go off without a hitch.”
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly spoke to the media in Winnipeg ahead of the Jets' extra show and talked about the unfinished main Olympic rink.
Daley said more positive reports of progress have started to come in over the last couple of days.
“Now it’s all about making sure we have ice that’s safe for our players,” he said. “That's our main concern, and we and the (National Hockey League Players Association) will make sure of that before we play the tournament.”
The men's hockey tournament will take place from February 11 to 22, and the women's tournament will take place from February 5 to 19.
The NHL has ice and infrastructure experts in Milan, and a secondary rink and training facility hosts test events.
“So far so good. That's a good sign,” Daley said. “They are building ice for the first time at Hockey 1 (the main rink), which will not be completed for some time, probably until the end or beginning of next month.
“There will be a test event in Hockey 1 in the middle of next month. We'll see how it goes.”
There is still a possibility that the competition will not take place.
“I think it’s probably a self-fulfilling prophecy: If the ice isn’t ready and it’s not safe, then we’re not going to go,” Daley said.
Bettman said the slow pace of construction on the main rink is “disappointing.”
“I'm not trying to push this point: in all previous Olympic Games, whether permanent or temporary, it has never been this late to complete the ice, and that's why we're being cautious,” Bettman said.
The size of the two rollers used is 60 meters long and 26 meters wide. The dimensions of NHL rinks are 60.96 by 25.908 meters. A three foot reduction in length will be placed in the neutral zone. The size complied with the standards of the International Hockey Federation.
Morrissey was invited to an Olympic orientation camp in Canada in August, and he said the players were aware of the different sizes of Italian rinks. The message they were given was to be “adaptable” to everything associated with the Games.
It's not just the NHL management that is concerned about possible injuries.
“That's the biggest thing I'm worried about,” Jets head coach Scott Arniel said.
“In the last Four Nations (throw-in) match (February), especially when your goalkeeper (Connor Hellebuyck) is going there, when your best players that we have are going there, you always worry. I think every coach is worried.”
Bettman was also asked about the five former 2018 Canadian junior national team players who signed NHL contracts after being acquitted in a highly publicized sexual assault case in July.
Goaltender Carter Hart played for the Vegas Golden Knights, and forward Dillon Dube was signed to a professional tryout Wednesday by the Springfield Thunderbirds, the American Hockey League affiliate of the St. Louis Blues.
Bettman said the players had to undergo training and counseling provided by the NHL.
When asked if he was concerned about how the league was handling the possibility of reinstating players, he said the process had been started for a second chance.
“Our public and private responses have been about how unhappy we are with the whole situation, and I think the words I've consistently used about what happened have been disgusting,” he said. “But the criminal case ended in acquittal. We still did not provide for immediate reinstatement, because we felt that there should be an appropriate reaction at our level.
“They've spent a couple of years on the sidelines because of behavior that we don't think reflects well on the game, but at this point people deserve a second chance.”
