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Forget about thin ice. Currently, the surface isn't ready.

As NHL players gearing up to make a comeback to the Olympics for the initial occasion in over a ten years, building work on the primary hockey venue for the Milano Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Local organizers announced on Wednesday that the main trial competition for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia facility originally planned for December has been moved to a more compact venue – and that no additional trial has been scheduled yet.

The issue raises the prospect that there may not be a game held in the primary venue until the puck is dropped for the women’s preliminary round at the Olympics on 5 February – one day before the opening ceremony.

“The timeline will be extremely tight to the start of the games, the schedule is very tight. But we knew that,” Milano Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.

The competition that was intended to test the Santagiulia ice was part of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament 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 stage lesser games during the games.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the prior year to hosting medal events. And with a large hockey arena, it’s not just about the playing surface and ensuring that the playing surface is ready and secure. It’s additionally about testing food outlets, restrooms and everything else inside a newly constructed contemporary stadium.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being built by a commercial firm, is scheduled to become Italy’s biggest indoor arena. For after the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential future host of the ATP Finals tennis tournament.

Despite the postponements and concerns, expensive tickets are already being purchased for matches at the Santagiulia venue. Tickets for the men’s gold medal game on 22 February – the final day of the Olympics – are going for as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). That’s more than the price of any other sports event at the Milano Cortina Games. Only passes for the opening and closing ceremonies cost more.

The comeback of NHL stars at the Olympics was announced last February, with the premier hockey league permitting its players to compete in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

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