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

With NHL players preparing to return to the Olympics for the first time in over a decade, building work on the primary hockey arena for the Milano Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Local organizers announced on Wednesday that the main trial competition for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia facility originally planned for December has been moved to a smaller venue – and that no additional trial has been scheduled yet.

This situation raises the prospect that there might not be a game held in the primary venue until the puck is dropped for the women's initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the opening ceremony.

“The timeline will be very close to the start of the Olympics, the schedule is very tight. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.

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

Typically, new Olympic venues are tested at least the prior year to holding medal events. And with a sizable hockey arena, it’s not only about the ice and ensuring that the playing surface is ready and safe. It’s additionally about checking food outlets, restrooms and everything else inside a brand-new modern arena.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being constructed by a commercial firm, is scheduled to become the nation's largest covered stadium. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible future host of the ATP Finals tennis event.

Despite the delays and worries, expensive passes are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men’s gold medal final on 22 February – the final day of the games – are priced at as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). This exceeds the price of any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely tickets for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.

The comeback of NHL players at the Olympics was announced in February of last year, with the world’s top hockey league 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. Women's event runs from 5-19 February.