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Forget about thin ice. For now, there’s no ice.

With NHL athletes gearing up to return to the Olympic Games for the first time in more than a decade, construction on the main hockey arena 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 facility that was scheduled for December has been relocated to a smaller venue – and that no new test event has been arranged yet.

The issue raises the prospect that there might 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 opening ceremony.

“The timeline will be very close to the beginning of the games, the schedule is very tight. But we knew that,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated recently.

The event that was intended to test the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been moved to the Rho Fiera hockey location, which is being set up inside a giant exhibition hall on Milan’s outskirts and will stage secondary matches during the games.

Usually, new Olympic venues are trialled at least the prior year to holding medal events. And with a large hockey venue, it’s not just about the playing surface and ensuring that the playing surface is prepared and safe. 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 private company, is slated to become Italy’s largest covered stadium. Following 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, expensive tickets are already being purchased for matches 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 for any other sports event at the Milano Cortina Games. Only passes for the opening and closing ceremonies are priced higher.

The return of NHL players at the Olympics was announced in February of last year, with the world’s top hockey organization permitting its players to compete in the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

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