The 2026 Winter Olympics are lower than two months away and the NHL says if the hockey rinks aren’t ready in time or are unsafe, the league’s players are “not going” to the Games.
On Tuesday, a match was played on the secondary Rho Ice Hockey Arena, one in every of two planned locations for hockey in February’s Milano Cortina Games.
However the query stays if the foremost Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena will probably be ready in time, despite officials saying the 16,000-seat facility will probably be good to play on.
The concerns surrounding the rink are usually not nearly if the structure will probably be ready, but in addition if the ice will even be playable.
“They haven’t made ice yet,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said during a news conference on Wednesday in Winnipeg. “So we don’t understand how good the ice is yet on the primary rink.”
February’s Olympics will probably be the primary since 2014 featuring participation by NHL players.
The NHL says it has sent its own ice specialists to assist with preparations, however the league says until the surface is tested with skaters and the heat from many fans in the world, it might not be clear if the standard will probably be ok.
“If the ice isn’t ready and it’s not protected, then we’re not going,” said NHL deputy commissioner Bill Daly. “I mean, I believe that’s self-evident.”
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The dimensions of the rinks are also a problem, with the NHL being caught off guard earlier this 12 months when it became clear the size of each will probably be barely wider and three feet shorter than what the league and the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF)agreed upon.
Daly told the Associated Press that the league and NHL Players’ Association have reminded the IIHF that they expect the ice surface to be standard NHL size on the 2030 Winter Games in France.
During Tuesday’s match, Japan captain Daigo Hotta said the ice on the Rho rink firmed up by game time though had said it was a “little soft” during a pre-game skate. The scale were immediately noticeable, Hotta said.
“I play back within the States. The rinks are pretty small, but I believe this one is one in every of the smallest rinks I’ve ever played in,” Hotta said. “The neutral zone’s smaller. The space between the dots and the boards. I believe every little thing’s a bit of smaller than normal.”
The match was a part of the Group B Under-20 world championship tournament being held this week.
Daly acknowledged the groups “did have a misunderstanding.”
The pinnacle of games operations for Milano Cortina recently dismissed questions on the rink size, noting the ice surfaces are consistent with IIHF rules. The official also said the ice has the identical dimensions because the rinks utilized in Beijing in 2022, and in Stockholm, Sweden, where the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators played twice last month as a part of the NHL’s Global Series.
“It is obvious that the size of the rink are different, but should you come to play in Europe, all of the rinks have this sort of size,” Andrea Francisi said Tuesday. “So by some means you may have to adapt to this sort of dimension.”
The NHL says it’s attempting to put the issue up to now, saying it won’t make an excessive amount of of a difference in play, but the massive worry stays that no Olympic hockey venue has been this removed from completion so near puckdrop.
The primary hockey game of the Olympics is Feb. 5, when the ladies’s tournament will begin.
—with files from Global News’ Mike Armstrong and The Associated Press
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