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Put aside thin ice. For now, the surface isn't ready.

With NHL athletes gearing up to make a comeback to the Olympics for the first time in over a decade, building work on the primary hockey venue for the Milano 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 moved to a more compact arena – and that no new test event has been arranged yet.

The issue raises the prospect that there may not be a game held in the primary venue until the competition begins for the women's initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the opening ceremony.

“The timeline will be extremely tight to the start of the games, the timeline is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said in a recent update.

The competition that was intended to evaluate the Santagiulia ice was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been moved to the Rho Fair hockey venue, which is being set up inside a massive convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will stage lesser games during the games.

Usually, new Olympic venues are tested at least the year before to hosting podium competitions. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not just about the playing surface and making sure that the playing surface is ready and safe. It’s also about testing food outlets, bathrooms and everything else inside a brand-new contemporary arena.

This new facility, which is being built by a private company, is scheduled to become the nation's biggest indoor arena. Following the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a potential upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.

In spite of the postponements and concerns, expensive tickets are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia venue. Tickets for the men’s gold medal game on 22 February – the closing day of the games – are going for as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). This exceeds for any other sports event at the Milan-Cortina Games. Only tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies cost more.

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

Men's Olympic hockey tournament is scheduled to run from 11-22 February. The women’s event runs from 5-19 February.