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

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

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

The issue creates the possibility that there may not be a game held in the primary venue until the puck is dropped for the women’s preliminary round at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the opening ceremony.

“It’s going to be extremely tight to the beginning of the Olympics, the schedule is very tight. However, we were aware,” Milan-Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated in a recent update.

The event that was supposed to evaluate the Santagiulia ice was a segment of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been transferred to the Rho Fiera hockey location, which is being established inside a massive exhibition hall on Milan’s outskirts and will stage secondary matches during the games.

Typically, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the year before to holding podium competitions. And with a sizable hockey arena, it’s not only about the ice and making sure that the playing surface is prepared and safe. It’s additionally about testing concession stands, restrooms and everything else inside a brand-new contemporary arena.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being constructed by a commercial firm, is slated to become the nation's largest indoor arena. For after the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential future host of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.

Despite the delays and concerns, expensive tickets are already being purchased 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 (more than $1,600). That’s more than the price of any other athletic competition at the Milano Cortina Games. Solely tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies cost more.

The return of NHL players at the Olympics was announced last February, with the world’s top 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 scheduled to run from 11-22 February. Women's event runs from 5-19 February.