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Forget about poor conditions. For now, the surface isn't ready.

As 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 arena for the Milano Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Officials 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 venue – and that no additional trial has been scheduled yet.

The issue raises the prospect that there may not be a game 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 opening ceremony.

“It’s going to be extremely tight to the beginning of the Olympics, the schedule is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milan-Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier said in a recent update.

The competition that was supposed to evaluate the Santagiulia ice was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been transferred to the Rho Fiera hockey venue, which is being established inside a massive exhibition hall on Milan’s outskirts and will stage lesser games during the Olympics.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the year before to holding medal events. And with a sizable hockey arena, it’s not just about the playing surface and making sure that the playing surface is prepared and safe. It’s additionally about checking concession stands, 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 the nation's largest covered stadium. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis tournament.

Despite the postponements and worries, expensive tickets are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Seats for the men's championship game on 22 February – the final day of the games – are priced at as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). This exceeds for any other athletic competition at the Milano Cortina Games. Only tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies cost more.

The comeback of NHL players at the Olympics was revealed last February, with the premier hockey organization permitting its players to participate in the Winter Olympics 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 occurs from 5-19 February.