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More concerning updates have surfaced regarding Olympic hockey arena

Colton Pankiw
Colton Pankiw
|
Jan 9 2026, 10:13 pm
More concerning updates have surfaced regarding Olympic hockey arena
@reporterchris/X

The 2026 Winter Olympics are roughly one month away, and it doesn’t appear the rinks are anywhere close to being ready.

It was reported in early December that due to slow progress on construction, the ice surfaces were going to be shorter than those in NHL arenas. As it turns out, however, that is far from the only concern.

On Thursday, Florian Wieser, who was playing in a test game at Santagiuliana Arena, shared pictures and videos on social media showing a number of concerns. One was that the playing surface itself, as the neutral zone, at least over video, appeared to be quite small.

A new picture on Friday, also provided by Wieser, showed what appears to be a very small neutral zone.

 

The test game itself appeared to be a disaster, with the game needing to be paused to repair a giant hole in the ice.

That was far from the only concerning update on Friday. A video shared by CBC Olympics shows just how much more work needs to be done throughout the entire arena.

Meanwhile, Chris Johnston of The Athletic wrote that just three of the 14 dressing rooms are completed. He did, however, mention that “there’s no sense on the ground that the Olympic tournament is in jeopardy.”

The men’s hockey portion of the Olympics is set to begin on Feb. 11, while the women’s side kicks off on Feb. 5.

While it sounds like there will be hockey played at these Games, it’s both surprising and frustrating to see how far behind schedule this building is. Barring a miraculous change over the next few weeks, there could be some hiccups throughout the tournament, both for players and fans planning on attending any outings.

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