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Forget about poor conditions. Currently, there’s no ice.

With NHL players gearing up to return to the Olympic Games for the first time in more than a ten years, building work on the primary hockey arena for the Milano Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Local organizers announced on Wednesday that the main test event for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia facility originally planned for December has been relocated to a more compact venue – and that no additional trial has been scheduled yet.

This situation raises the prospect that there might not be a match held in the primary venue until the competition begins 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 timeline is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier stated in a recent update.

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 Fiera hockey location, which is being established inside a giant convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will host lesser games during the games.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are tested at least the prior year to hosting medal events. And with a large hockey venue, it’s not only about the ice and making sure that the rink is prepared and secure. It’s also about testing concession stands, bathrooms and everything else inside a newly constructed contemporary arena.

This new facility, which is being built by a commercial firm, is slated to become Italy’s largest indoor arena. For after the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential future host of the ATP Finals tennis tournament.

In spite of the postponements and concerns, high-priced passes are already being purchased for events at the Santagiulia arena. Seats for the men’s gold medal game on 22 February – the final day of the Olympics – are priced at as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). That’s more than for any other athletic competition at the Milano Cortina Games. Solely passes 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 athletes to participate in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

Men's Olympic hockey tournament is set to run from 11-22 February. Women's event runs from 5-19 February.