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Put aside poor conditions. Currently, there’s no ice.

With NHL athletes preparing to return to the Olympics for the initial occasion in more than a decade, building work on the primary hockey venue for the Milan-Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Local organizers announced 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 creates the possibility that there might 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 beginning of the Olympics, the schedule is highly compressed. But we knew that,” Milano Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.

The event that was supposed to evaluate the Santagiulia ice was part of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been moved to the Rho Fiera hockey location, which is being established inside a giant convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will host secondary matches during the games.

Typically, new Olympic venues are tested at least the year before to holding podium competitions. And with a large hockey venue, it’s not only about the ice and ensuring that the playing surface is ready and safe. It’s additionally about checking concession stands, restrooms and all other amenities inside a brand-new contemporary stadium.

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

In spite of the delays and concerns, expensive tickets are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men’s gold medal game on 22 February – the closing day of the Olympics – are going for as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). That’s more than the price of any other sports event at the Milano Cortina Games. Only tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies are priced higher.

The return of NHL players at the Olympics was announced last February, with the world’s top hockey league permitting its athletes to participate in the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

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