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Forget about poor conditions. Currently, there’s no ice.

With NHL athletes gearing up to make a comeback to the Olympics for the initial occasion in over a ten years, construction on the primary hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Local organizers announced on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia facility that was scheduled for December has been relocated to a more compact arena – and that no new test event has been scheduled yet.

The issue raises the prospect that there might not be a match held in the primary venue until the puck is dropped for the women's initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the opening ceremony.

“It’s going to be extremely tight to the start of the Olympics, the schedule is highly compressed. But we knew that,” Milan-Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said in a recent update.

The competition that was intended to evaluate the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been moved to the Rho Fiera hockey location, which is being set up inside a massive exhibition hall on the outskirts of Milan and will stage secondary matches during the games.

Typically, new Olympic venues are trialled at least the year before to holding podium competitions. And with a large hockey arena, it’s not just about the playing surface and making sure that the playing surface is ready and secure. It’s additionally about testing concession stands, restrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed contemporary stadium.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being built by a private company, is scheduled to become the nation's biggest covered stadium. For after the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential upcoming venue of the ATP Finals tennis tournament.

In spite of the postponements and worries, high-priced tickets are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia venue. Seats for the men’s gold medal game on 22 February – the closing day of the games – are going for as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). That’s more than for any other sports event at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely tickets for the inaugural and final events cost more.

The comeback of NHL players at the Olympics was announced last February, with the premier hockey league permitting its players to compete in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

The men’s Olympic hockey competition is set to run from 11-22 February. Women's tournament occurs from 5-19 February.