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

As NHL athletes gearing up to return to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in more than a ten years, building work on the primary hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Officials confirmed on Wednesday that the main test event for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia arena that was scheduled for December has been relocated to a smaller venue – and that no additional trial has been arranged yet.

This situation 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 – one day before the opening ceremony.

“The timeline will be extremely tight to the start of the games, the timeline is very tight. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated in a recent update.

The event that was intended to test the Santagiulia ice was part of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been moved to the Rho Fair hockey location, which is being established inside a giant exhibition hall on Milan’s outskirts and will stage lesser games during the Olympics.

Usually, new Olympic venues are trialled at least the prior year to hosting podium competitions. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not just about the playing surface and making sure that the playing surface is prepared and secure. It’s also about checking food outlets, bathrooms and all other amenities inside a brand-new modern arena.

This new facility, which is being constructed by a commercial firm, is slated to become Italy’s biggest indoor arena. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential future host of the ATP Finals tennis event.

Despite the postponements and worries, expensive passes 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 Olympics – are going for as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds the price of any other athletic competition at the Milano Cortina Games. Only passes for the inaugural and final events cost more.

The return of NHL stars at the Olympics was revealed in February of last year, with the premier hockey organization permitting its athletes to compete 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. Women's tournament occurs from 5-19 February.