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Put aside thin ice. For now, there’s no ice.

With NHL players gearing up to make a comeback to the Olympics for the initial occasion in more than a decade, building work on the primary hockey venue for the Milan-Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Local organizers confirmed on Wednesday that the primary test event for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia arena that was scheduled for December has been relocated to a more compact arena – and that no new test event has been arranged yet.

The issue 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 – one day before the inaugural event.

“The timeline will be extremely tight to the start of the games, the timeline is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated recently.

The competition that was intended to test the Santagiulia ice was part of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been moved to the Rho Fiera hockey location, which is being set up inside a massive exhibition hall on Milan’s outskirts and will stage secondary matches during the games.

Usually, new Olympic venues are tested at least the prior year to hosting medal events. And with a large hockey arena, it’s not only about the ice and ensuring that the playing surface is ready and safe. It’s also about testing food outlets, bathrooms and everything else inside a newly constructed modern stadium.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being built by a commercial firm, is scheduled to become Italy’s biggest covered stadium. For after the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a potential future host of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.

In spite of the postponements and worries, expensive passes are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia venue. Seats for the men’s gold medal final on 22 February – the closing day of the games – are priced at as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). That’s more than the price of any other sports event at the Milano Cortina Games. Only tickets for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.

The comeback of NHL stars at the Olympics was revealed in February of last year, with the premier hockey organization permitting its athletes to compete in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

Men's Olympic hockey competition is set to take place from 11-22 February. The women’s tournament runs from 5-19 February.