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

As NHL players gearing up to make a comeback to the Olympics for the first time in over a ten years, building work on the primary hockey venue for the Milano Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the main test event for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia arena originally planned for December has been relocated to a smaller arena – and that no additional trial has been scheduled yet.

This situation raises the prospect that there might 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 – one day before the opening ceremony.

“It’s going to be very close to the start of the games, the schedule is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milan-Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier said in a recent update.

The event that was supposed to test the Santagiulia ice was part of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been transferred to the Rho Fair hockey location, which is being established inside a massive exhibition hall on the outskirts of Milan and will host lesser games during the Olympics.

Typically, freshly built Olympic facilities are tested at least the prior year to hosting medal events. And with a large hockey arena, it’s not only about the ice and making sure that the rink is ready and safe. It’s additionally about testing concession stands, bathrooms and everything else inside a newly constructed contemporary stadium.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being constructed by a commercial firm, is scheduled to become Italy’s biggest indoor arena. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential future host of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.

Despite the delays and concerns, expensive passes are already being purchased for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Seats for the men's championship game on 22 February – the final day of the Olympics – are going for as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). That’s more than for any other sports event at the Milan-Cortina Games. Only tickets for the inaugural and final events cost more.

The comeback of NHL stars at the Olympics was announced last February, with the premier hockey league allowing its athletes to participate in the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

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