Winter Olympic Games Milano Cortina 2026 News Road to Milano Cortina 2026

[Grassmarket 4,081]

On 1/2/2026 at 9:01 PM, phelps said:

no recent news, we're all waiting for this weekend to know how the situation actually is 

 

however, not expecting Italian media to say a single word about it (just like they didn't say anything about the opening of the other venues here in Milan)

 

for our media, the only existing wintersports are alpine skiing and figure skating (sometimes they also talk of cross-country skiing, but only in memory of the past success, not because of daily action)

 

ice and field hockey are basically unknown to our media, I think they're the 2 most forgotten sports in the Country pound for pound

Ice hockey test event seems to have been a success.

 

MILAN, Jan 10 (Reuters) - The new Santagiulia ice hockey arena in Milan, which will stage the top matches at the Winter Olympics next month, drew a vote of confidence on Saturday after it finally opened its doors with a test event featuring Italy's top teams.

 

Olympics-new Milan ice hockey arena wins expert approval after running repair on surface

Edited 6 hours ago by Grassmarket

[copravolley 539]

1 hour ago, Grassmarket said:

Ice hockey test event seems to have been a success.

 

MILAN, Jan 10 (Reuters) - The new Santagiulia ice hockey arena in Milan, which will stage the top matches at the Winter Olympics next month, drew a vote of confidence on Saturday after it finally opened its doors with a test event featuring Italy's top teams.

 

Olympics-new Milan ice hockey arena wins expert approval after running repair on surface

Success? Come on... two days after the Olympics, they'll demolish this ice rink, and it won't even be usable for hockey players in this country for a few more days...

Edited 4 hours ago by copravolley

[phelps 8,336]

1 hour ago, copravolley said:

Success? Come on... two days after the Olympics, they'll demolish this ice rink, and it won't even be usable for hockey players in this country for a few more days...

yes, it was a great success

 

everything that should work, worked very well

 

there was a little inconvenient on Friday and it was fixed in less than 5 mins, then the ice sustained 3 games a day yesterday and today without any other issue

 

and moreover, the stands (those open to the public) were full despite the low level of play and the teams not exactly coming from the Milan area

 

actually, it was even full of nostalgic fans from the great hockey times of the town, the early Nineties, showing how much the city has Hockey in the deep of their hearts and how much a great team is missed here

 

that was at stake, not the fact that the arena has been projected and built for other goals, AKA music concerts and "global events" and not certainly to host any sport in the future

 

therefore, yes, it was a success, despite all the fuckin' arrogant, pretentious idiots from the North American (and Italian) social media

[copravolley 539]

15 minutes ago, phelps said:

yes, it was a great success

 

everything that should work, worked very well

 

there was a little inconvenient on Friday and it was fixed in less than 5 mins, then the ice sustained 3 games a day yesterday and today without any other issue

 

and moreover, the stands (those open to the public) were full despite the low level of play and the teams not exactly coming from the Milan area

 

actually, it was even full of nostalgic fans from the great hockey times of the town, the early Nineties, showing how much the city has Hockey in the deep of their hearts and how much a great team is missed here

 

that was at stake, not the fact that the arena has been projected and built for other goals, AKA music concerts and "global events" and not certainly to host any sport in the future

 

therefore, yes, it was a success, despite all the fuckin' arrogant, pretentious idiots from the North American (and Italian) social media

It's a different story with these idiots, but for me it would be a success if it was a permanent ice rink and a real project was created, for example, a good hockey team in Milan, which would promote the sport throughout northern Italy (because we can probably forget about Sicily for next 100 years). For now situations that probably, in 1-2 years there will be nothing left of it except videos on YouTube. 

 

Eureka Watson If there's a demand for this product, why not reactivate it?

Edited 2 hours ago by copravolley

[phelps 8,336]

2 minutes ago, copravolley said:

It's a different story with these idiots, but for me it would be a success if it was a permanent ice rink and a real project was created, for example, a good hockey team in Milan, which would promote the sport throughout northern Italy (because we can probably forget about Sicily for next 100 years). For now situations that probably, in 1-2 years there will be nothing left of it except videos on YouTube.

it was NEVER an option, the arena is a completely private building, projected and constructed to make money with concerts 

 

if someone with a lot of money to waste wants to establish a team in Milan, it's always possible: there are a small size arena (the Agorà, just to be renewed, if we only had a mayor capable of doing the city's interests) for low level leagues and a reasonably big one (the Forum) if only we could find a place in a decent league (spoiler: no major European league* wants a foreign team, there have been a lot of attemps in the past, but either Switzerland nor Germany allowed even to start talking of joining them)

 

*and KHL is no longer an option nowadays, of course

 

all this, to say that there's no chance to have good hockey in Milan (and in Italy, in general) anymore...not now, not in a few years, not in a century (unless Lombardy departs from Italy and joins Switzerland)

[copravolley 539]

5 minutes ago, phelps said:

it was NEVER an option, the arena is a completely private building, projected and constructed to make money with concerts 

 

if someone with a lot of money to waste wants to establish a team in Milan, it's always possible: there are a small size arena (the Agorà, just to be renewed, if we only had a mayor capable of doing the city's interests) for low level leagues and a reasonably big one (the Forum) if only we could find a place in a decent league (spoiler: no major European league* wants a foreign team, there have been a lot of attemps in the past, but either Switzerland nor Germany allowed even to start talking of joining them)

 

*and KHL is no longer an option nowadays, of course

 

all this, to say that there's no chance to have good hockey in Milan (and in Italy, in general) anymore...not now, not in a few years, not in a century (unless Lombardy departs from Italy and joins Switzerland)

In the '90s, did this team play in the only in Italian league, or somewhere else? Back then, they weren't in the KHL or Champions League. For me personally, a permanent speed skating indoor track would be more important, but hockey could also return to this city.

Edited 2 hours ago by copravolley

[phelps 8,336]

1 minute ago, copravolley said:

In the '90s, did this team play in the only in Italian league, or somewhere else? Back then, they weren't in the KHL or Champions League.

at that time we had a good league, with at least 5 or 6 very good teams (2 from Milan, Varese, Bolzano, Courmayeur-Aosta, Alleghe) and a few others not so bad, playing a championship together with Austria (the so-called Alpenliga) in the first part of the season and then the Italian-only phase (with playoffs)

 

there were players (foreign and Italians -Italo-Canadians, of course) with tons of NHL games played before coming here, raising the level of play and the prestige of the league

 

and there were both the Champions Cup and the Continental Cup, with the Italian teams doing quite well (in the top 5 for 3 straight years between 1992 and 1994, when the Devils Milan came 3rd, best placing ever)

[copravolley 539]

2 minutes ago, phelps said:

at that time we had a good league, with at least 5 or 6 very good teams (2 from Milan, Varese, Bolzano, Courmayeur-Aosta, Alleghe) and a few others not so bad, playing a championship together with Austria (the so-called Alpenliga) in the first part of the season and then the Italian-only phase (with playoffs)

 

there were players (foreign and Italians -Italo-Canadians, of course) with tons of NHL games played before coming here, raising the level of play and the prestige of the league

 

and there were both the Champions Cup and the Continental Cup, with the Italian teams doing quite well (in the top 5 for 3 straight years between 1992 and 1994, when the Devils Milan came 3rd, best placing ever)

Btw./ does the women's volleyball team with Egonu, now based in Milan, have good attendance at matches? Is there a chance this will be a longer-term project?

[phelps 8,336]

6 minutes ago, copravolley said:

Btw./ does the women's volleyball team with Egonu, now based in Milan, have good attendance at matches? Is there a chance this will be a longer-term project?

yes, they have a very good attendance (they also filled the Forum with 12.600+ spectators a couple of times, but normally they play at the Allianz Cloud, which hosts 5k people at max)

no idea if the project is going to be successful in long terms, I hope so (even if the whole Italian league now is in danger of lowering their level, as all the best players -Italians included- nowadays go to steal the Turkish money)

Edited 2 hours ago by phelps

[copravolley 539]

2 minutes ago, phelps said:

yes, they have a very good attendance (they also filled the Forum with 12.600+ spectators a couple of times, but normally they play at the Allianz Cloud, which hosts 5k people at max)

no idea if the project is going to be successful in long terms, I hope so (even if the whole Italian league now is in danger of lowering their level, as all the best players -Italians included- nowadays go to steal the Turkish money)

And who was more popular in the city?: Orro or Egonu? Orro was previously captain.

 

Turkey had a similar tacticsm, that about 15 years ago, when they were also starting to raise their prices significantly, but in that time Azerbaijan and Russia still had a lot of money. Now, even with a slightly lower level, the Italian league would still easily was second behind Turkey, but of course, I'd prefer it to be first- that requires increased budgets for the top clubs.