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

As NHL players preparing to make a comeback to the Olympic Games 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.

Local organizers confirmed on Wednesday that the primary 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 new test event has been arranged yet.

The issue creates the possibility 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 – 24 hours before the inaugural event.

“It’s going to be very close to the start of the Olympics, the timeline is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated in a recent update.

The competition that was intended to test the Santagiulia ice was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been transferred to the Rho Fiera hockey venue, which is being established inside a giant exhibition hall on Milan’s outskirts and will stage secondary matches during the games.

Typically, new Olympic venues are trialled at least the prior year to holding medal events. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not only about the ice and ensuring that the rink is ready and safe. It’s additionally about testing concession stands, bathrooms and everything else inside a newly constructed modern arena.

This new facility, which is being constructed by a private company, is scheduled to become Italy’s largest indoor arena. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.

Despite the postponements and worries, expensive tickets are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia venue. Tickets for the men's championship game on 22 February – the closing day of the Olympics – are priced at as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). That’s more than for any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely tickets for the inaugural and final events cost more.

The comeback of NHL stars at the Olympics was revealed last February, with the premier hockey organization permitting its athletes to participate in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

Men's Olympic hockey competition is scheduled to run from 11-22 February. Women's event occurs from 5-19 February.