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Put aside thin ice. For now, the surface isn't ready.

As NHL players preparing to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in more than a ten years, building work on the primary hockey arena for the Milano Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Officials confirmed on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia arena originally planned for December has been relocated to a more compact venue – and that no additional trial has been scheduled yet.

The issue creates the possibility that there may not be a match held in the primary venue 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 extremely tight to the start of the Olympics, the timeline is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said in a recent update.

The competition that was supposed to evaluate the Santagiulia ice was part of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been transferred to the Rho Fair hockey location, which is being established inside a giant convention center on the outskirts of Milan and will stage lesser games during the Olympics.

Typically, freshly built Olympic facilities are tested at least the prior year to hosting medal events. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not just about the playing surface and ensuring that the rink is ready and safe. It’s also about checking food outlets, restrooms and everything else inside a brand-new contemporary stadium.

This new facility, which is being built by a commercial firm, is slated to become the nation's biggest indoor arena. Following the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a potential future host of the ATP Finals tennis tournament.

In spite of the postponements and concerns, expensive passes are already being purchased for matches at the Santagiulia venue. Tickets for the men’s gold medal final on 22 February – the closing day of the games – are going for as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds 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 players at the Olympics was revealed in February of last year, with the premier hockey league permitting its athletes to participate in the Winter Games for the initial occasion since 2014 in Sochi.

Men's Olympic hockey competition is set to run from 11-22 February. Women's event runs from 5-19 February.