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

As NHL athletes gearing up to return to the Olympics for the initial occasion in more than a ten years, building work on the main hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the main test event for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia arena originally planned for December has been relocated to a smaller arena – and that no additional trial has been scheduled yet.

This situation creates the possibility that there may not be a match held in the primary venue until the puck is dropped for the women’s preliminary round at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the inaugural event.

“It’s going to be extremely tight to the start of the games, the schedule is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated in a recent update.

The competition that was intended to evaluate the Santagiulia playing surface 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 host secondary matches during the games.

Usually, new Olympic venues are tested at least the year before to holding medal events. And with a sizable hockey arena, it’s not only about the playing surface and ensuring that the rink is ready and safe. It’s also about checking food outlets, restrooms and all other amenities inside a brand-new contemporary stadium.

This new facility, which is being constructed by a commercial firm, is slated to become Italy’s biggest indoor arena. Following the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a potential upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis tournament.

In spite of the postponements and worries, expensive passes are already being sold for events at the Santagiulia arena. Seats for the men’s gold medal game on 22 February – the closing day of the Olympics – are priced at as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). That’s more than the price of any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Only tickets for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.

The comeback of NHL players at the Olympics was announced in February of last year, with the premier hockey league allowing its players to participate in the Winter Games for the initial occasion since 2014 in Sochi.

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