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Put aside poor conditions. For now, there’s no ice.

As NHL players gearing up to return to the Olympic Games for the first time in more than a ten years, construction on the main hockey venue for the Milano Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the main trial competition for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia arena that was scheduled for December has been moved to a smaller arena – and that no new test event has been arranged yet.

This situation raises the prospect that there may 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 opening ceremony.

“The timeline will be extremely tight to the start of the games, the timeline is very tight. But we knew that,” Milano Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said in a recent update.

The competition that was supposed 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 established inside a giant convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will stage secondary matches during the games.

Typically, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the year before to hosting podium competitions. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not just about the ice and ensuring that the playing surface is prepared and safe. It’s additionally about testing concession stands, restrooms and everything else inside a brand-new modern arena.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being built by a commercial firm, is scheduled to become Italy’s biggest indoor arena. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential upcoming venue of the ATP Finals tennis event.

Despite the delays and worries, expensive tickets are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia venue. Tickets for the men's championship game on 22 February – the final day of the Olympics – are going for as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). This exceeds the price of any other athletic competition at the Milano Cortina Games. Solely passes for the inaugural and final events cost more.

The comeback of NHL players at the Olympics was revealed in February of last year, with the premier hockey league allowing its athletes to participate in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

The men’s Olympic hockey competition is scheduled to run from 11-22 February. Women's event runs from 5-19 February.