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

With NHL players preparing to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in over a ten years, building work on the main hockey venue for the Milan-Cortina Games is cutting it close.

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 smaller venue – and that no additional trial has been scheduled yet.

The issue raises the prospect that there may not be a match 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 Olympics, the timeline is highly compressed. But we knew that,” Milan-Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said in a recent update.

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

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the prior year to holding medal events. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not only about the playing surface and making sure that the playing surface is ready and secure. It’s also about checking food outlets, restrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed contemporary arena.

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

Despite the postponements and concerns, high-priced tickets are already being purchased for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Seats for the men's championship game on 22 February – the closing day of the Olympics – are going for as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds for any other sports event at the Milan-Cortina Games. Only tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies are priced higher.

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

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