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Put aside poor conditions. For now, there’s no ice.

With NHL athletes preparing to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in over a ten years, building work on the main hockey venue for the Milano Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia arena that was scheduled for December has been relocated to a smaller arena – and that no new test event has been arranged yet.

This situation raises the prospect that there might not be a match held in the primary venue until the competition begins for the women's initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – one day before the inaugural event.

“It’s going to be extremely tight to the beginning of the games, the timeline is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier stated recently.

The event that was supposed to test the Santagiulia playing surface was part of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been transferred to the Rho Fair hockey location, which is being set up inside a massive convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will stage lesser games during the games.

Typically, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the prior year to hosting medal events. And with a sizable hockey arena, it’s not just about the playing surface and making sure that the rink is prepared and safe. It’s also about checking food outlets, restrooms and all other amenities inside a brand-new modern arena.

This new facility, which is being built by a commercial firm, is scheduled to become the nation's largest indoor arena. Following the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Finals tennis tournament.

In spite of the postponements and concerns, expensive tickets are already being purchased for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Seats for the men's championship game on 22 February – the final day of the Olympics – are priced at as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). This exceeds the price of any other athletic competition at the Milano Cortina Games. Solely passes for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.

The return of NHL stars at the Olympics was announced in February of last year, with the premier hockey organization permitting its athletes to participate in the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

The men’s Olympic hockey competition is scheduled to run from 11-22 February. The women’s tournament runs from 5-19 February.