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Forget about poor conditions. For now, there’s no ice.

With NHL athletes gearing up to return to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in more than a decade, building work on the primary hockey venue for the Milan-Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Local organizers announced on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia arena that was scheduled for December has been moved to a more compact arena – 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 main arena until the puck is dropped for the women’s preliminary round at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the inaugural event.

“It’s going to be extremely tight to the beginning of the games, the timeline is highly compressed. But we knew that,” Milano Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.

The event that was supposed to test the Santagiulia ice was part of the U20 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 Milan’s outskirts and will stage lesser games during the games.

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 playing surface and ensuring that the rink is ready and safe. It’s also about testing concession stands, bathrooms and everything else inside a newly constructed contemporary stadium.

This new facility, which is being constructed by a private company, is slated to become the nation's biggest covered stadium. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential upcoming venue of the ATP Finals tennis event.

Despite the postponements and concerns, expensive tickets are already being sold for events at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men's championship game on 22 February – the final day of the games – are going for as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds the price of any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Only tickets for the inaugural and final events cost more.

The comeback of NHL players at the Olympics was announced last February, with the premier hockey league allowing its players to participate in the Winter Games for the initial occasion since 2014 in Sochi.

The men’s Olympic hockey tournament is set to run from 11-22 February. Women's event occurs from 5-19 February.