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

As NHL players preparing to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the first time in over a ten years, building work on the main hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the main trial competition for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia arena that was scheduled for December has been relocated to a smaller venue – and that no new test event has been arranged yet.

The issue creates the possibility that there may not be a match held in the main arena until the competition begins for the women’s preliminary round at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the inaugural event.

“It’s going to be very close to the beginning of the games, the timeline is very tight. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated recently.

The event that was supposed to test the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been moved to the Rho Fair hockey venue, which is being established inside a giant exhibition hall on Milan’s outskirts and will stage secondary matches during the games.

Typically, freshly built Olympic facilities are tested at least the prior year to hosting medal events. And with a sizable hockey arena, it’s not only about the playing surface and ensuring that the rink is ready and safe. It’s also about checking food outlets, bathrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed modern arena.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being built by a commercial firm, is slated to become Italy’s largest indoor arena. For after the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.

In spite of the delays and concerns, expensive tickets are already being sold for events 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 passes for the inaugural and final events cost more.

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

Men's Olympic hockey tournament is set to take place from 11-22 February. The women’s event occurs from 5-19 February.