Olympics in Milan: My first time at the brand new Santa Giulia Ice Hockey Arena

The big story here for the last 6 months has been the Santa Giulia Ice Hockey Arena, and how far behind schedule they were in completing this building. I have been in Milan for a week now, but have been so busy at other locations, that I had not had a chance to come to this arena. Today, I made my way here for the first time, to take the team photo and the photograph the practice for the USA men's team. 

This is the outside of the building, which actually looks pretty cool!

Finding the media entrance was surprisingly easy, which is not always the case for these places. Once inside, I went to the photo workroom to introduce myself to the photo management and staff. I asked them for a tour of the place so that I could get familiar with the layout, the shooting positions, and also learn the rules. Believe it or not, every venue has different rules which we have to adhere to. They first took me out to the main rink, which looks really good.

We then went upstairs to see the photo positions from up above. 

This is the photo workroom. Not very fancy, but it works. You will see that they have power and ethernet lines for hard wire connection. 

This is the press interview area, which will probably only be used once we get to the medal rounds. 

I like this sign on the wall, since ice hockey is my vibe. 😀

I went back out to the main rink to check the clarity of the plexiglass, and to check the little details. 

You can see that, just like the other rink, there is a very large area between the spectators and the ice.

These are the benches that they have set up for us photographers. Luckily, unlike the other rink, these are not bolted down, so we can move them closer to the glass when shooting. I then scoot the bench back at the break so that I can put my laptop on me, to start my downloading and retouching.

Overall, the place looks pretty complete and ready for some good hockey! 

The first women's game here is in 2 hours. I have been here for 7 hours already (retouching and working on future blogs), so I am ready to get going. Go USA!

Please excuse any typos. Normally I try to proof read everything before I post, but here at the Olympics, time is a commodity. I definitely miss some things. :)

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