The ice hockey tournament of the Milan Winter Olympics could turn into a real flop if the Santa Giulia ice hockey arena is not completed.

According to NHL Deputy Commissioner Bill Daly, NHL players will not participate in the tournament if the conditions are not right.

– If the arena is not completed, NHL players will not participate in the Olympics, Daly stated directly in an interview with Daily Faceoff.

The organizers of the Milan Olympics have announced that the completion of the arena will be significantly delayed.

The U20 World Championship in Division 1B was originally scheduled to start in Milan on December 8, and it was supposed to be a trial run for the upcoming Olympics, but the tournament had to be moved to another location because the arena is not yet ready.

The completion of the arena is not the only problem at the moment. Canada’s national team assistant coach Pete DeBoer previously noted that the Milan ice hockey rink is about a meter narrower than an NHL rink. This would violate the agreement made by the NHL and IIHF regarding the conditions for the Olympics.

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