There will be no reserve stadium if the main ice hockey arena for the winter games in Cortina in Milan is not ready in time.
Construction of the arena that is awaited NHL the return of players to the Olympics for the first time in more than a decade is behind schedule and nearing completion.
The test event at the Santagiulia hockey arena, a new 16,000-seat stadium on the outskirts of Milan, had to be postponed and no new test events are scheduled until January 9-11.
“There is no Plan B,” Andrea Franzisi, Milan Cortina’s director of gaming operations, told The Associated Press on Saturday.
“We must therefore be able to organize the competition flawlessly in Santagiulia.”
The first scheduled Olympic hockey game at the arena will be a women's preliminary round match on Feb. 5, the day before the opening ceremony.
Typically, new Olympic venues are tested at least a year before the medal events. And with a large hockey arena, it's not just about the ice and making sure the playing surface is ready and safe. It's also about testing trade stands, bathrooms and everything else in a completely new arena.
Franzisi admitted there is “no exact date” for the site to be handed over to local organizers, but he is confident “for now” that it will be ready for the Olympics.
“The daily updates are coming in as our team works every day,” Franzisi said. “The companies involved in the construction of the facility have significantly accelerated their work.
“We're tracking this with them on a daily basis, there's great cooperation between us, we're creating a coordinated plan between their work and our preparations, and at this point we're healthy optimistic that we'll get it done 100 percent.”
The men's Olympic hockey tournament is scheduled for February 11-22. The women's tournament will take place from February 5 to 19.
