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Forget about thin ice. Currently, the surface isn't ready.

As NHL athletes gearing up to return to the Olympics for the initial occasion in more than a decade, building work on the main hockey venue for the Milan-Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Local organizers announced on Wednesday that the primary 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 raises the prospect that there might not be a match held in the main arena until the competition begins 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 timeline is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated recently.

The competition that was supposed to evaluate the Santagiulia ice was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been transferred to the Rho Fiera hockey venue, which is being established inside a giant convention center on the outskirts of Milan and will host lesser games during the Olympics.

Typically, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the prior year to holding podium competitions. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not only about the playing surface and making sure that the playing surface is prepared and safe. It’s additionally about checking food outlets, bathrooms and all other amenities inside a brand-new contemporary arena.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being constructed by a commercial firm, is slated to become Italy’s largest covered stadium. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible future host of the ATP Finals tennis tournament.

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

The return of NHL players at the Olympics was revealed in February of last year, with the world’s top hockey organization permitting its athletes to compete in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

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