MILAN – Don Moffatt, the ice master at the 2026 Olympic hockey tournament, is working his fifth Winter Games in Milan. The pride of Peterborough, Ont. has never experienced anything like this.
“This one has been unbelievably challenging,” Moffatt told TSN. “The other Olympics I’ve had test events a year out, so I learned the systems. I learned the buildings. And then, when it comes time to put the ice in for the Olympics, I usually have it in at least three to four weeks ahead of the Olympics. I can get it skated on, broken in, and really finely tuned. This one was definitely a challenge.”
Due to construction delays at the privately funded Santagiulia Arena, which will host the biggest games at the Olympic tournament, Moffatt only started putting in the ice last week.
“I waited until the last second, until most of the construction around the field of play here was completed,” Moffatt said. “I’ve kind of been, you know, an a—-e the last week. I can count on one hand the number of people that have been on that ice surface so far. About three days ago, it was the owner of the actual building that I screamed at, and he very nicely got off the ice. A couple of people came out to take pictures and I’m like, ‘Not allowed. Sorry.’”
But the 67-year-old, who oversees ice-making for the Colorado Avalanche at Ball Arena, is now finally ready to share his creation with the world. And Moffatt believes this ice is among the best he’s made at any Olympics.
“It’s dense,” he said. “It’s solid. Your skates don’t go into it. I’m kind of a bigger guy and I tried. I’ve skated my entire life. I’m obviously not nearly at the talent level that’s coming here to play, but I’m big enough that I should be able to cut the ice if I want to and I couldn’t. So, yeah, it’s in really good condition right now.”
The ice, aesthetically, also looks much better than it did at the delayed test event that was eventually held at the arena in December.
“That was produced in the middle of a construction site,” Moffatt noted. “Ice quality was very good, but the look was horrible. It was kind of brownish and that was based on all the construction going on around us.”
Don Moffatt, the ice master at the Milan Olympic arenas, says in a statement provided by the local organizing committee that he’s “happy and satisfied” with the surface so far. He says the hole that appeared during last night’s game was “in line with the usual process.” pic.twitter.com/hsCHJnmJks
— Chris Johnston (@reporterchris) January 10, 2026
The first practice at the arena took place on Monday night with the French men’s team hitting the ice. The host Italians will play the first game at the arena on Thursday afternoon when they open the women’s tournament against France.
“We have a very ice-friendly schedule here,” Moffatt said. “We start with some women’s games. Absolutely no disrespect to the women, but they really don’t damage the ice. They’re skilled and they’re incredible players, but they’re not heavy enough to actually do a lot of damage to it. So, it really helps me to have some women’s games on here to just kind of break the surface in. I tell people that ice is kind of like a muscle. You have to break it down a little bit and then build it back up and it’ll get stronger. So that’s what we’ll do for this first week.”
The first men’s games at the venue will be held on Feb. 11. Team Canada will play its first game at the arena on Feb. 12 when Sidney Crosby and company open their tournament against David Pastrnak and Team Czechia.
“I think the players are going to love it,” Moffatt said.
The ice and much of the bowl is looking mostly ready, but there’s still lots of work taking place inside the arena.
“There’s still a lot that needs to be done under the seats and stuff,” Moffatt acknowledged. “I don’t have a room to put my spare board parts and glass parts yet. Coming this week, I hope, you know, so it’s definitely going to be last minute. But it is amazing just being here and seeing how many people are working, trying to get things done.”
“I feel good,” said Veronika Muhlhofer, who is the event general manager at Santagiulia Arena. “The closer we get, the better we feel. We’ll feel best once we drop the first puck. There will be a small sigh of relief and then we’re off to the races.”
The concourses still need work, but the fan experience will be a good one, Muhlhofer promises.
“The bathrooms are already open and all of us are testing them as we spend our days here,” she said with a smile. “We’ve also taste tested the [concession] food, which was really good … There’s a lot of cleaning we still want to do.”
Muhlhofer readily admits not everything will get done. For example, there won’t be as much parking available as initially planned.
“There will be bits that aren’t necessarily used by the Games,” she said. “You might walk past and then you would see okay, this is an area that’s not used by the Games.”
Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena
The bottom line is the arena will be ready for the Olympics. But just barely.
“These are my ninth Games, and I totally understand why people would have been nervous because it was, let’s say, a non-traditional timeline getting up to this,” Muhlhofer said. “It’s been a while in the Winter Games since we’ve had such a case. This isn’t what you’d normally expect to see. A month ago, it wasn’t what you’d normally expect a month from the games.”
But there’s some Olympic magic mixed into all the dust still inside the building.
“During the test event a lot of the construction workers would come in and they would watch,” Moffatt recalled. “Seeing their faces was really kind of cool. It was almost comical because they hadn’t seen hockey and they didn’t really know what was going to go on in the building. And there seemed to be a totally different atmosphere after the test event. People realized what was going to happen and got a little more excited.”