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

With NHL athletes gearing up to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in over a ten years, building work on the main hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the primary test event for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia arena originally planned for December has been moved to a more compact venue – and that no new test event has been scheduled yet.

The issue raises the prospect 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 – one day before the opening ceremony.

“It’s going to be very close to the beginning of the Olympics, the schedule is highly compressed. But we knew that,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.

The event that was supposed to test the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been moved 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 games.

Usually, new Olympic venues 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 ensuring that the playing surface is ready and secure. It’s also about testing concession stands, bathrooms and all other amenities inside a brand-new modern arena.

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

In spite of the postponements and worries, expensive passes are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia venue. Tickets for the men's championship final on 22 February – the closing day of the Olympics – are priced at as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds the price of any other athletic competition at the Milano Cortina Games. Solely tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies cost more.

The return of NHL stars at the Olympics was revealed last February, with the world’s top hockey league allowing its athletes to participate in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

The men’s Olympic hockey tournament is set to run from 11-22 February. The women’s tournament runs from 5-19 February.