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Forget about thin ice. Currently, there’s no ice.

With NHL players gearing up to return to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in more than a decade, building work on the primary hockey arena for the Milano Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia arena originally planned for December has been relocated to a more compact venue – and that no new test event has been arranged 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 initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – one day before the opening ceremony.

“The timeline will be very close to the beginning of the Olympics, the schedule is very tight. But we knew that,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier said in a recent update.

The event that was supposed to test the Santagiulia ice was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been transferred to the Rho Fair hockey location, which is being established inside a massive exhibition hall on Milan’s outskirts and will stage secondary matches during the games.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are tested at least the prior year to hosting podium competitions. And with a large hockey arena, it’s not just about the playing surface and ensuring that the playing surface is prepared and safe. It’s also about checking food outlets, restrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed contemporary arena.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being built by a private company, is slated to become the nation's biggest indoor arena. For after the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a potential upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis tournament.

Despite the postponements and concerns, expensive passes are already being purchased for events at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men's championship game on 22 February – the closing day of the games – are priced at as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). That’s more than the price of any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely tickets for the inaugural and final events cost more.

The comeback 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 Olympics for the initial occasion since 2014 in Sochi.

The men’s Olympic hockey competition is scheduled to take place from 11-22 February. Women's event occurs from 5-19 February.