Olympic hockey arena to install lighter boards after player feedback
The dark color of the Santagiulia rink boards is affecting players' ability to see the puck. Bruce Bennett / Getty Images
Feb. 16, 2026Updated 6:21 pm EST
MILAN – After player feedback and input from the NHL, the banners at Milano’s Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena are expected to be changed to a lighter color, multiple NHL sources confirmed Monday night. ESPN’s Emily Kaplan was the first to report.
The new banners are expected to be installed in time for the men’s hockey qualification round on Tuesday, the league sources say. Arena staff began removing the current banners immediately following Monday night’s women’s hockey semifinal between Canada and Switzerland.
The banners were going to be changed all along due to wear and tear, but players and NHL officials have pointed out to the IOC how the darker green color, particularly in certain areas of the boards, could be problematic for sight when it comes to finding a black puck.
During the U.S.-Denmark game, United States goalie Jeremy Swayman said he couldn’t see a puck coming at him fired from near the Denmark bench.
"It was a flash screen and it was just the perfect height right between the stands and board level, and I truly lost it," he said.
The CBC and NBC broadcast crews wondered aloud during the telecast whether Swayman lost the puck because of the color of the boards in the vicinity of where the puck was shot.
To Swayman’s credit, he didn’t use it as an excuse, joking after the game that he was colorblind, so it didn’t matter to him anyway.
"It’s something all of us always have to face and we play in different arenas every night in the NHL, so this is just one, another one, and it’s a challenge that we have to embrace," Swayman said.
Feb 17, 2026
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Michael Russo (https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/author/michael-russo/) is a senior writer covering the Minnesota Wild and the National Hockey League for The Athletic. He has covered the NHL since 1995 (Florida Panthers) and the Wild since 2005, previously for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel and Minneapolis Star Tribune. Michael is a five-time Minnesota Sportswriter of the Year and in 2017 was named the inaugural Red Fisher Award winner as best beat writer in the NHL. Michael can be seen on NHL Network; and heard on KFAN (100.3 FM) and the Worst Seats in the House podcast (talknorth.com). He can be found on Instagram and X at @russohockey and Bluesky at @russohockey.bsky.social. Follow Michael on Twitter @RussoHockey (https://twitter.com/RussoHockey)
