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Forget about thin ice. Currently, the surface isn't ready.

As NHL athletes gearing up to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in over a ten years, construction on the primary hockey arena for the Milano Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the main trial competition for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia arena that was scheduled for December has been moved to a smaller arena – and that no additional trial has been arranged yet.

The issue raises the prospect that there may not be a match 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 opening ceremony.

“The timeline will be very close to the start of the Olympics, the schedule is highly compressed. But we knew that,” Milan-Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.

The event that was intended to test the Santagiulia playing surface was part of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been moved to the Rho Fiera hockey location, which is being established inside a giant convention center on the outskirts of Milan and will stage secondary matches during the games.

Typically, freshly built Olympic facilities are tested at least the prior year 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 prepared and secure. It’s also about checking concession stands, 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 Italy’s largest covered stadium. Following the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a potential future host of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.

Despite the delays 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 final day of the games – are going for as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds the price of any other sports event at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies are priced higher.

The return of NHL players at the Olympics was revealed in February of last year, with the premier hockey organization permitting its players to participate in the Winter Olympics for the initial occasion since 2014 in Sochi.

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