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Put aside poor conditions. Currently, there’s no ice.

As NHL players gearing up to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the first time in over a ten years, construction on the primary hockey venue for the Milan-Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Local organizers announced on Wednesday that the main test event for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia arena originally planned for December has been relocated to a smaller arena – and that no additional trial has been scheduled yet.

This situation creates the possibility that there might not be a game held in the main arena until the competition begins for the women’s preliminary round at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the opening ceremony.

“It’s going to be extremely tight to the beginning 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 competition that was supposed to evaluate the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been transferred to the Rho Fair hockey location, which is being established inside a giant convention center on the outskirts of Milan and will stage lesser games during the games.

Typically, new Olympic venues are trialled at least the prior year to hosting podium competitions. And with a large hockey venue, it’s not only about the playing surface and making sure that the playing surface is prepared and secure. It’s also about testing food outlets, restrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed contemporary stadium.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being constructed by a private company, is slated to become the nation's biggest indoor arena. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible future host of the ATP Finals tennis tournament.

In spite of the delays and worries, expensive passes are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men’s gold medal final on 22 February – the final day of the games – are going for as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). This exceeds for any other athletic competition at the Milano Cortina Games. Only tickets for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.

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

Men's Olympic hockey competition is scheduled to take place from 11-22 February. Women's event runs from 5-19 February.