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Put aside thin ice. Currently, there’s no ice.

With NHL players preparing to return to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in over a decade, building work on the main hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Officials confirmed on Wednesday that the primary test event for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia arena that was scheduled for December has been relocated to a more compact venue – and that no new test event has been scheduled yet.

The issue creates the possibility 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 extremely tight to the start of the Olympics, the timeline is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milan-Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.

The event that was intended to test the Santagiulia playing surface was part of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been transferred to the Rho Fair hockey location, which is being set up inside a massive exhibition hall on Milan’s outskirts and will host lesser games during the games.

Typically, freshly built Olympic facilities are tested at least the prior year to holding podium competitions. And with a large hockey venue, it’s not just about the ice and making sure that the playing surface is ready and safe. It’s also about checking concession stands, restrooms and everything else inside a brand-new modern arena.

This new facility, which is being built by a commercial firm, is slated to become Italy’s largest covered stadium. For after the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential future host of the ATP Finals tennis tournament.

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

The return of NHL players at the Olympics was announced in February of last year, with the world’s top 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 scheduled to run from 11-22 February. The women’s event occurs from 5-19 February.