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11/29 11:51 CST No backup plan for Olympic ice hockey arena as construction
goes down to the wire
No backup plan for Olympic ice hockey arena as construction goes down to the
wire
By DANIELLA MATAR
AP Sports Writer
MILAN (AP) --- There is no backup stadium if the main ice hockey arena for the
Milan Cortina Winter Games is not ready on time.
Construction on the arena that is set to welcome NHL players back to the
Olympics for the first time in more than a decade is behind schedule and its
completion is going right down to the wire.
A test event at the Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena --- the new, 16,000-seat venue
on the outskirts of Milan --- had to be moved, and new test events aren't
scheduled until Jan. 9-11.
"There is no plan B," Andrea Francisi, the chief games operations officer for
Milan Cortina, told the Associated Press on Saturday.
"So necessarily we have to be able to organize the competition in an impeccable
manner at Santagiulia."
The first scheduled Olympic hockey game at the arena is a women's preliminary
round match on Feb. 5, one day before the opening ceremony.
Usually, new Olympic venues are tested at least the year before hosting 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 concession
stands, bathrooms and everything else inside a brand new arena.
Francisi admitted there is "no precise date" for the venue to be handed over to
local organizers, but he is confident "for the moment" that it will be ready
for the Olympics.
"There are daily updates in the sense that our team is there working every
day," Francisi said. "The companies which are involved with the building of the
facility have sped up their work significantly.
"We're monitoring all that daily together with them, there's great
collaboration between us, we're creating a coordinated plan between their work
and our preparations and for the moment we're healthily optimistic, but 100%
we'll do it."
The men's Olympic hockey tournament is scheduled from Feb. 11-22. The women's
tournament runs from Feb. 5-19.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/winter-olympics
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