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

With NHL athletes preparing to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the first time in over a ten years, construction on the main hockey venue for the Milano Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Local organizers announced on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia facility originally planned 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 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.

“It’s going to be extremely tight to the start of the games, the schedule is very tight. But we knew that,” Milano Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said in a recent update.

The competition that was intended to evaluate the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been transferred to the Rho Fair hockey location, which is being established inside a giant convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will stage lesser games during the games.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the year before to holding medal events. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not only about the ice and ensuring that the playing surface is ready and safe. It’s additionally about testing food outlets, bathrooms and everything else inside a newly constructed contemporary stadium.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being constructed by a private company, is scheduled to become Italy’s biggest covered stadium. For after the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Finals tennis tournament.

In spite of the delays and concerns, expensive passes are already being purchased for events at the Santagiulia venue. Tickets for the men's championship game on 22 February – the final day of the Olympics – are going for as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). This exceeds the price of any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Only passes for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.

The comeback of NHL stars at the Olympics was revealed last February, with the world’s top hockey league allowing its players to compete in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

Men's Olympic hockey competition is scheduled to run from 11-22 February. Women's event runs from 5-19 February.