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Put aside poor conditions. Currently, the surface isn't ready.

As NHL athletes gearing up to return to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in over a decade, building work on the primary hockey venue for the Milan-Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

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

The issue raises the prospect that there might not be a match 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 inaugural event.

“It’s going to be very close to the start of the games, the schedule is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.

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

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the year before to holding medal events. And with a large hockey arena, it’s not just about the ice and ensuring that the rink is ready and secure. It’s additionally about testing food outlets, bathrooms and everything else inside a newly constructed modern arena.

This new facility, which is being built 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 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 gold medal final on 22 February – the final day of the games – are going for as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). That’s more than the price of any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely passes for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.

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

Men's Olympic hockey tournament is scheduled to run from 11-22 February. The women’s tournament runs from 5-19 February.