The NHL and NHLPA are looking for progress when it comes to the unfinished construction of the hockey rink for the 2026 Olympics.
After NHL senior director of facilities operations/hockey operations Derek King and executive vice-president for NHL events Dean Matsuzaki paid the venue a visit earlier this month in Italy, the league and the Players' Association have given the International Olympic Committee (IOC) a month to show progress with the rink, Sportsnet's Elliotte Friedman reported on Saturday.
"I think the thing we're all trying to find out is: When does panic set in?" Friedman said during the Saturday Headlines segment on Hockey Night in Canada. "We're all looking forward to Olympic hockey, it's going to be a fantastic tournament, but I understand the NHL and the Players' Association right now are just biting their tongues.
"They don't want to pour gasoline on this. Basically, from what I understand is they're giving everybody here a month. Just pre-Christmas to sort this out and show it's really going somewhere."
The first Olympic game at the hockey arena is the women’s preliminary round, which starts on Feb. 5, just one day before the opening ceremony.
A test event that was scheduled to be held at the rink in December had to be moved due to the construction delays.
"I was one of a number of people who reported this week that there is no Plan B," Friedman said. "There is no other option. I thought it was the league and the players who said to the Olympic Committee, 'There is no Plan B, we're going there and that's it.'
"I heard it was the other way around. It was the Olympic Committee who said, 'No. We're getting this built, and we're not going anywhere else.'"
In late October, officials for the Milan-Cortina Olympics discussed the arena's progress at an event to celebrate the 100-day countdown to the 2026 Games.
“We are convinced that we will have a beautiful facility, and we will be ready to do the test event the first week of January, which will be very important because it has never been used,” Milan-Cortina CEO Andrea Varnier said.
“We need to test the ice, which is temporary, not permanent, and also the function of the entire facility, which will be heavily visited.”
Now just 82 days away from hosting the world's top players, the IOC will need to take some significant steps forward in the next 30 to keep the NHL and its players satisfied.
— with files from the Associated Press
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