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

With NHL players gearing up to return to the Olympics for the initial occasion in more than a decade, building work on the primary hockey venue for the Milano Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Local organizers confirmed on Wednesday that the main test event for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia arena that was scheduled for December has been moved to a smaller venue – and that no new test event has been scheduled yet.

This situation raises the prospect that there might not be a game held in the main arena until the competition begins for the women’s preliminary round 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 highly compressed. But we knew that,” Milano Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.

The competition that was intended to test the Santagiulia ice was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been moved to the Rho Fiera hockey venue, which is being established inside a giant convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will host secondary matches during the games.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the year before to holding podium competitions. And with a large hockey venue, it’s not only about the ice and making sure that the playing surface is ready and safe. It’s also about checking concession stands, bathrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed modern arena.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being constructed by a private company, is scheduled to become the nation's biggest covered stadium. For after the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential upcoming venue of the ATP Finals tennis event.

In spite of the delays and worries, high-priced tickets are already being purchased for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men's championship final on 22 February – the closing day of the games – 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. Solely passes for the inaugural and final events cost more.

The return of NHL stars at the Olympics was announced in February of last year, with the world’s top hockey league permitting 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 take place from 11-22 February. The women’s event occurs from 5-19 February.