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

With NHL athletes preparing to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in more than a decade, construction on the main hockey venue for the Milano Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Local organizers announced on Wednesday that the primary test event for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia arena that was scheduled for December has been moved to a more compact arena – and that no additional trial has been scheduled yet.

This situation creates the possibility that there may 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 Olympics, the timeline is highly compressed. But we knew that,” Milan-Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.

The competition that was intended to evaluate the Santagiulia ice was part of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been moved to the Rho Fair hockey venue, which is being established inside a massive convention center on the outskirts of Milan and will stage 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 only about the playing surface and making sure that the playing surface is ready and safe. It’s additionally about checking concession stands, restrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed modern stadium.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being built by a private company, 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 tournament.

In spite of the delays and concerns, expensive passes are already being sold for events at the Santagiulia venue. Seats for the men’s gold medal final on 22 February – the closing day of the games – are priced at as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds for any other sports event at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies 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 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 tournament runs from 5-19 February.