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

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

Local organizers announced on Wednesday that the main trial competition for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia facility that was scheduled for December has been relocated to a more compact venue – and that no new test event has been scheduled yet.

The issue creates the possibility that there may 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 – one day before the opening ceremony.

“The timeline will be extremely tight to the start of the games, the schedule is very tight. However, we were aware,” Milan-Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier said in a recent update.

The competition that was intended to evaluate the Santagiulia ice was a segment of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been moved to the Rho Fiera hockey venue, which is being set up inside a giant exhibition hall on the outskirts of Milan and will stage lesser games during the Olympics.

Usually, new Olympic venues are trialled at least the prior year to hosting medal events. And with a sizable hockey arena, it’s not just about the playing surface and ensuring that the playing surface is prepared and safe. It’s additionally about testing food outlets, bathrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed modern stadium.

This new facility, which is being built by a commercial firm, is slated to become the nation's biggest indoor arena. For after the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis tournament.

In spite of the delays and concerns, expensive tickets are already being purchased for matches at the Santagiulia venue. Tickets for the men’s gold medal game on 22 February – the final 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 inaugural and final events are priced higher.

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

Men's Olympic hockey tournament is set to run from 11-22 February. Women's tournament runs from 5-19 February.