Construction continues at the Milano Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena for the Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Assago, near Milan, Italy, Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2025.

Forget about thin ice. For now, there’s no ice.

With NHL players preparing to return to the Olympics for the first time in more than a decade, construction on the main hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Local organizers confirmed to The Associated Press on Wednesday that the main test event for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia arena that was scheduled for December has been moved to a smaller arena — and that no new test event has been scheduled yet.

The issue raises the prospect that there might not be a game held in the main arena until the puck is dropped for the women’s preliminary round compe

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