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

As NHL athletes gearing up to make a comeback to the Olympics for the first time in over a ten years, building work on the main hockey arena for the Milano Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the main test event for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia facility that was scheduled for December has been relocated to a more compact venue – and that no additional trial has been scheduled yet.

This situation creates the possibility that there may not be a game held in the primary venue until the puck is dropped for the women's initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – one day before the opening ceremony.

“It’s going to be extremely tight to the start of the Olympics, the timeline is very tight. But we knew that,” Milan-Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.

The competition that was supposed to test the Santagiulia playing surface was part of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been moved to the Rho Fair hockey location, which is being established inside a massive convention center on the outskirts of Milan and will host secondary matches during the Olympics.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the year before to holding podium competitions. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not only about the playing surface and making sure that the rink is ready and safe. It’s additionally about testing concession stands, restrooms and all other amenities inside a brand-new contemporary arena.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being constructed by a private company, is slated to become Italy’s largest indoor arena. 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 worries, expensive tickets are already being purchased for events at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men’s gold medal final on 22 February – the final day of the Olympics – are going for as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). That’s more than for any other athletic competition at the Milano Cortina Games. Only tickets for the inaugural and final events cost more.

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

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