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Put aside thin ice. Currently, there’s no ice.

With NHL athletes preparing to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the first time in over a decade, construction on the main hockey arena for the Milano Cortina Games is cutting it close.

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 venue – and that no new test event has been scheduled yet.

This situation raises the prospect that there may not be a game 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 opening ceremony.

“The timeline will be extremely tight to the start of the games, the schedule is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milan-Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier stated in a recent update.

The event that was supposed to test the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been moved to the Rho Fair hockey venue, which is being set up inside a massive exhibition hall on the outskirts of Milan and will stage secondary matches during the Olympics.

Typically, new Olympic venues are tested at least the prior year to hosting podium competitions. And with a large hockey arena, it’s not only about the ice 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 constructed by a private company, is slated to become Italy’s largest covered stadium. For after the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis tournament.

In spite of the postponements and concerns, expensive passes are already being purchased for events at the Santagiulia venue. Tickets for the men’s gold medal game on 22 February – the closing day of the Olympics – are going for as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). This exceeds the price of any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Only passes for the opening and closing ceremonies are priced higher.

The comeback of NHL players at the Olympics was announced last February, with the world’s top hockey organization permitting its players to participate in the Winter Olympics for the initial occasion since 2014 in Sochi.

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