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Forget about poor conditions. For now, there’s no ice.

With NHL athletes gearing up to return to the Olympics for the first time in over a ten years, construction on the main hockey venue for the Milano Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Officials confirmed on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia facility that was scheduled for December has been moved to a smaller arena – and that no new test event has been arranged yet.

This situation raises the prospect that there may not be a game held in the main arena until the puck is dropped for the women's initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the inaugural event.

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

The event that was intended to evaluate the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been moved to the Rho Fiera hockey location, which is being established inside a massive convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will stage secondary matches during the games.

Typically, new Olympic venues are tested at least the year before to holding medal events. And with a large hockey venue, it’s not just about the ice and making sure that the rink is ready and safe. It’s also about checking food outlets, bathrooms and everything else inside a brand-new contemporary stadium.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being built by a private company, is scheduled to become Italy’s largest indoor arena. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential upcoming venue of the ATP Finals tennis tournament.

In spite of the postponements and concerns, expensive tickets are already being purchased for matches at the Santagiulia venue. Seats for the men's championship final on 22 February – the closing day of the Olympics – are going for as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). This exceeds for any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Only tickets for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.

The return of NHL stars at the Olympics was revealed in February of last year, with the world’s top hockey organization allowing its players to participate in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

The men’s Olympic hockey tournament is scheduled to run from 11-22 February. Women's tournament occurs from 5-19 February.