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Forget about thin ice. Currently, there’s no ice.

As NHL athletes preparing to make a comeback to the Olympics for the first time in more than a ten years, construction on the primary hockey arena for the Milan-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 arena – and that no additional trial has been arranged yet.

The issue creates the possibility that there might not be a game held in the main arena until the competition begins for the women's initial games 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,” Milan-Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated in a recent update.

The competition that was supposed to evaluate the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been transferred to the Rho Fair hockey location, which is being established inside a massive exhibition hall on Milan’s outskirts and will host lesser games during the games.

Usually, new Olympic venues are trialled at least the prior year to holding podium competitions. And with a large hockey venue, it’s not just about the playing surface and ensuring that the playing surface is ready and safe. It’s additionally about checking food outlets, bathrooms and everything else inside a brand-new modern stadium.

This new facility, which is being built by a private company, is slated to become Italy’s biggest indoor arena. For after the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential future host of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.

In spite of the delays and worries, expensive tickets are already being purchased for events at the Santagiulia venue. Seats for the men's championship game on 22 February – the closing day of the games – are priced at as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). This exceeds for any other athletic competition at the Milano Cortina Games. Only passes for the inaugural and final events cost more.

The comeback of NHL stars at the Olympics was announced in February of last year, with the premier hockey organization permitting its athletes to participate in the Winter Games for the initial occasion since 2014 in Sochi.

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