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Forget about poor conditions. Currently, the surface isn't ready.

With NHL players gearing up to return to the Olympic Games for the first time in over a ten years, building work on the primary hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Officials confirmed on Wednesday that the main trial competition for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia arena that was scheduled for December has been moved to a more compact venue – and that no new test event has been scheduled yet.

This situation creates the possibility 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 – one day before the opening ceremony.

“It’s going to be extremely tight to the start of the games, the timeline is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milan-Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.

The competition that was intended to evaluate the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been moved to the Rho Fiera hockey venue, which is being established inside a massive convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will host secondary matches during the games.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities 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 rink is ready and safe. It’s additionally about checking concession stands, bathrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed modern arena.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being constructed by a commercial firm, is slated to become Italy’s largest covered stadium. For after the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Finals tennis event.

Despite 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 closing 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. Solely tickets for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.

The return of NHL players at the Olympics was announced last February, 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 tournament is scheduled to take place from 11-22 February. Women's event occurs from 5-19 February.