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

As NHL players gearing up to return to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in more than a ten years, construction on the primary hockey venue for the Milano Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

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

The issue creates the possibility that there might not be a match held in the primary venue until the competition begins for the women’s preliminary round at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the inaugural event.

“It’s going to be extremely tight to the beginning of the games, the schedule is very tight. But we knew that,” Milan-Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated in a recent update.

The competition that was supposed to test the Santagiulia playing surface was part of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been moved to the Rho Fiera hockey venue, which is being set up inside a giant convention center on the outskirts of Milan and will host lesser games during the games.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the prior year to holding podium competitions. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not just about the ice and ensuring that the playing surface is prepared and secure. It’s additionally about checking concession stands, bathrooms and everything else inside a brand-new modern stadium.

This new facility, which is being constructed by a commercial firm, is scheduled to become the nation's biggest covered stadium. For after the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a potential future host of the ATP Tour Finals tennis tournament.

In spite of the postponements and worries, expensive passes are already being sold for events at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets 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 for any other sports event at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely passes for the opening and closing ceremonies are priced higher.

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

Men's Olympic hockey competition is set to take place from 11-22 February. The women’s event runs from 5-19 February.