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Put aside thin ice. For now, there’s no ice.

With NHL athletes preparing to return to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in over a decade, building work on the main hockey venue for the Milan-Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Local organizers announced on Wednesday that the main trial competition for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia facility originally planned for December has been relocated to a smaller venue – and that no new test event has been scheduled yet.

The issue raises the prospect that there might 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 opening ceremony.

“The timeline will be very close to the start of the games, the schedule is highly compressed. But we knew that,” Milan-Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated in a recent update.

The event that was supposed to evaluate the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been moved to the Rho Fair hockey location, which is being established inside a massive convention center on the outskirts of Milan and will host lesser games during the games.

Typically, new Olympic venues are tested at least the year before to hosting podium competitions. And with a large hockey arena, it’s not only about the ice and making sure that the playing surface is ready and secure. It’s additionally about checking food outlets, restrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed contemporary stadium.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being built by a private company, is slated to become Italy’s biggest indoor arena. For after the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis tournament.

Despite the delays and worries, high-priced passes are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Seats for the men's championship final on 22 February – the final day of the games – are going for as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). That’s more than the price of any other sports event at the Milan-Cortina Games. Only tickets for the inaugural and final events cost more.

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

The men’s Olympic hockey competition is scheduled to take place from 11-22 February. Women's event occurs from 5-19 February.