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

As NHL athletes preparing to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the first time in over a decade, building work on the main hockey venue for the Milano Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

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

The issue creates the possibility that there might 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 – one day before the inaugural event.

“The timeline will be extremely tight to the beginning of the Olympics, the schedule is very tight. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said in a recent update.

The competition that was intended to evaluate the Santagiulia ice was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been transferred to the Rho Fiera hockey location, which is being established inside a giant exhibition hall on the outskirts of Milan and will host lesser games during the Olympics.

Typically, freshly built Olympic facilities are tested at least the year before to hosting medal events. And with a large hockey arena, it’s not only about the playing surface and making sure that the playing surface is ready and secure. It’s additionally about testing concession stands, restrooms and all other amenities inside a brand-new modern arena.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being constructed by a commercial firm, is scheduled to become the nation's largest covered stadium. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential future host of the ATP Tour Finals tennis tournament.

Despite the postponements and worries, expensive tickets are already being sold for events at the Santagiulia venue. Seats for the men’s gold medal final on 22 February – the closing day of the games – are priced at as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds for any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely 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 organization permitting its players to compete in the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

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