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Put aside poor conditions. Currently, there’s no ice.

With NHL athletes gearing up to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the first time in more than a decade, construction on the primary hockey arena for the Milano Cortina Games is cutting it close.

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

This situation 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 inaugural event.

“The timeline will be extremely tight to the start of the Olympics, the schedule is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milan-Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier stated recently.

The event that was intended to evaluate the Santagiulia ice was a segment of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been transferred to the Rho Fiera hockey location, which is being set up inside a giant exhibition hall on the outskirts of Milan and will host secondary matches during the games.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are tested at least the year before to hosting medal events. And with a sizable hockey arena, it’s not just about the ice and ensuring that the playing surface is prepared and secure. It’s also about checking concession stands, bathrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed modern stadium.

This new facility, which is being built by a commercial firm, 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 Tour Finals tennis tournament.

In spite of the postponements and concerns, high-priced passes are already being purchased for matches at the Santagiulia venue. Seats for the men's championship game on 22 February – the closing day of the games – are going for as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds for any other athletic competition at the Milano Cortina Games. Solely tickets for the inaugural and final events cost more.

The return of NHL players at the Olympics was announced last February, with the world’s top hockey organization permitting its athletes to participate in the Winter Games for the initial occasion since 2014 in Sochi.

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