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

With NHL players gearing up to return to the Olympics for the first time in more than a ten years, building work on the primary hockey venue for the Milano Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Officials confirmed on Wednesday that the main trial competition for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia arena originally planned for December has been relocated to a more compact venue – and that no additional trial has been scheduled yet.

This situation raises the prospect 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 inaugural event.

“The timeline will be very close to the start of the Olympics, the schedule is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.

The competition that was intended to evaluate the Santagiulia playing surface 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 set up inside a massive convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will host secondary matches during the Olympics.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the prior year to hosting podium competitions. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not only about the ice and making sure that the playing surface is ready and safe. It’s also about testing concession stands, restrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed modern stadium.

This new facility, which is being built by a private company, is slated to become the nation's biggest covered stadium. For after the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a potential future host of the ATP Finals tennis tournament.

In spite of the postponements and worries, expensive passes are already being purchased for events at the Santagiulia venue. Tickets for the men's championship final on 22 February – the final day of the Olympics – are priced at as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). That’s more than for any other sports event at the Milano Cortina Games. Only passes for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.

The comeback of NHL stars at the Olympics was announced last February, with the premier hockey league permitting its athletes to compete 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 tournament occurs from 5-19 February.