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Put aside poor conditions. Currently, the surface isn't ready.

As NHL athletes gearing up to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the first time in over a ten years, building work on the primary hockey arena for the Milano Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Local organizers confirmed on Wednesday that the main trial competition for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia arena that was scheduled for December has been relocated to a smaller venue – and that no additional trial has been scheduled yet.

The issue raises the prospect that there may not be a match held in the primary venue until the competition begins for the women's initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the inaugural event.

“The timeline will be extremely tight to the start of the games, the schedule is very tight. However, we were aware,” Milan-Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier stated in a recent update.

The event that was intended to test the Santagiulia ice was part of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament 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 lesser games during the games.

Typically, freshly built Olympic facilities are tested at least the year before to holding medal events. And with a large hockey arena, it’s not just about the ice and making sure that the rink is ready and safe. It’s additionally about testing concession stands, bathrooms and everything else inside a brand-new modern stadium.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being built by a private company, is scheduled to become the nation's biggest covered stadium. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis tournament.

Despite the delays and worries, high-priced passes are already being purchased for events at the Santagiulia venue. Tickets for the men's championship final on 22 February – the final day of the games – are going for as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). This exceeds for any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely passes for the opening and closing ceremonies are priced higher.

The return of NHL players at the Olympics was revealed in February of last year, with the premier hockey league allowing its athletes to compete in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

Men's Olympic hockey competition is set to take place from 11-22 February. Women's tournament runs from 5-19 February.