NHL, NHLPA give IOC a deadline on Olympic rink progress
November 23, 2025
NHL, NHLPA give IOC a deadline on Olympic rink progress
5 comments
Brace yourselves NHL fans, at least one of your favourites is coming home with a mangled knee due to poor ice
Despite the confident assurances from organizers, both named and unnamed sources around the Milan/Cortina project cast serious doubt on whether the PalaItalia Santa Giulia arena will be ready for the 2026 Olympics.
Officials quoted in Reuters and AP openly admit that construction is running right up against immovable deadlines, while insiders speaking off-record describe the schedule as “uncomfortably tight” and “one minor delay away from disaster.”
The cancellation of the December test event, the reliance on a temporary ice surface, and the fact that the first full-scale test won’t happen until probably late January 2026…just weeks before the Games, has only amplified skepticism.
Taken together, the on-the-record warnings and the off-the-record extreme anxieties paint the same picture: an Olympic venue that may open just in time, or not quite in time, but certainly not with the calm confidence organizers wish to project.
Move the Hockey games to Munich?
It’s not surprising. 2006 games weren’t finished in time either for a lot of venues. You had athletes and spectators walking through open construction sites
Considering where the Coyotes were playing in final days this is a tad laughable
5 comments
Brace yourselves NHL fans, at least one of your favourites is coming home with a mangled knee due to poor ice
Despite the confident assurances from organizers, both named and unnamed sources around the Milan/Cortina project cast serious doubt on whether the PalaItalia Santa Giulia arena will be ready for the 2026 Olympics.
Officials quoted in Reuters and AP openly admit that construction is running right up against immovable deadlines, while insiders speaking off-record describe the schedule as “uncomfortably tight” and “one minor delay away from disaster.”
The cancellation of the December test event, the reliance on a temporary ice surface, and the fact that the first full-scale test won’t happen until probably late January 2026…just weeks before the Games, has only amplified skepticism.
Taken together, the on-the-record warnings and the off-the-record extreme anxieties paint the same picture: an Olympic venue that may open just in time, or not quite in time, but certainly not with the calm confidence organizers wish to project.
Move the Hockey games to Munich?
It’s not surprising. 2006 games weren’t finished in time either for a lot of venues. You had athletes and spectators walking through open construction sites
Considering where the Coyotes were playing in final days this is a tad laughable