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Forget about thin ice. For now, there’s no ice.

As NHL athletes gearing up to return to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in more than a ten years, building work on the primary hockey arena for the Milano Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Officials confirmed on Wednesday that the main trial competition for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia arena originally planned for December has been moved to a more compact venue – and that no additional trial has been scheduled yet.

The issue creates the possibility that there may not be a match held in the main arena until the puck is dropped for the women’s preliminary round at the Olympics on 5 February – one day before the inaugural event.

“It’s going to 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 stated recently.

The competition that was intended to evaluate the Santagiulia playing surface was part of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been moved to the Rho Fiera hockey location, which is being established inside a giant exhibition hall on the outskirts of Milan and will host secondary matches during the games.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are tested at least the year before to holding medal events. And with a large hockey arena, it’s not just about the ice and making sure that the playing surface is ready and safe. It’s also about checking concession stands, bathrooms and everything else inside a brand-new contemporary arena.

This new facility, which is being built by a commercial firm, is scheduled to become the nation's largest covered stadium. 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 worries, high-priced tickets are already being sold for events at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men’s gold medal final on 22 February – the closing day of the Olympics – are going for as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds for any other sports event at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely passes for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.

The return of NHL stars at the Olympics was announced in February of last year, with the world’s top hockey organization permitting its players to participate in the Winter Olympics for the initial occasion since 2014 in Sochi.

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