One of the big stories coming out of last week’s Board of Governors meeting was the Olympic Rink in Milan, Italy, being behind schedule. A scheduled event to test the rink and play a game in December has been pushed back to January.
Construction on the rink should have been finished by now. And there is no backup plan for the IOC or the IIHF to use another rink just in case this one is not finished. As Dave Pagnotta of the Fourth Period jokingly stated on Wednesday during his appearance on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio, the games might be played outdoors.
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But there is definitely concern that this rink isn’t finished, as it will host both the men’s and women’s games during the Winter Olympics. Similar to the NHL Draft being decentralized, when Commissioner Gary Bettman made it clear it was the GMs who wanted a decentralized, he is saying the same thing when it comes to rink construction.
During an appearance on Sirius XM NHL Network Radio, Commissioner Bettman put the blame on the IOC and IIHF for the unfinished rink construction and said he has been voicing his concerns for the better part of two years.
NHLRumors.com Transcriptions
Steve Kouleas: “I wanted to start about the talk about the beginning of the season, but there’s a lot of noise, Mr. Commissioner, about the Olympics. This rink, I was told yesterday, it doesn’t have a roof, so what are we going to be playing outside over there? And then yesterday (Tuesday), Emily Kaplan, I was watching ESPN, and she talked about not having the send-off, so I didn’t really understand exactly what was going on. So now that you’re on the program today, can you enlighten us on construction? And I guess, why no send off from Long Island?”
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Gary Bettman: “Okay, both good questions and both deserve to be answered. The first is the rink construction in Milan. The main rink for hockey for the Olympics, has been a tardy, if you will, in being constructed. Not anything we have anything to do with, not anything that we have control over.
I have been voicing concerns for the better part of two years. The IOC and the International Ice Hockey Federation representatives are adamant that the rink will be ready to play the Olympics in February. And I certainly hope they’re right, because it would be a disaster for them if they don’t get the rink done.
They’re saying all the right things, but normally, rinks are done for the Olympics anywhere from a year to six months in advance so that they can test them. Obviously, they’re not talking about that time frame. They’re talking about getting it up and running maybe a week before the Olympics.
Good news is our ice people are helping them, and we’ll be helping them, and if there’s no roof on it now, there, I assume will be a roof on in the next three months when we start the Olympics. And it’s one of the issues I’ve always had about stopping our season and disruption, but we don’t control. We’re invited guests at best, and so there are only so many things we can control, but the Olympic infrastructure is certainly not one of them.”
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Now, as far as the Super Bowl Media Day type event as a sendoff for the players, Commissioner Bettman did say he consulted the NHLPA and felt it was best to get the players to Italy as quickly as possible so they could settle in for the Olympics to make the tournament the best it can be. It is important to the Players that they are there.
But it is clear from listening to NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman that he is none too pleased this rink is not complete on time.
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