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

As NHL athletes gearing up to make a comeback to the Olympics for the first time in more than a ten years, building work on the main hockey venue for the Milano Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

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

The issue creates the possibility that there may not be a game held in the main arena until the puck is dropped for the women’s preliminary round at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the inaugural event.

“The timeline will be extremely tight to the start of the games, the schedule is highly compressed. But we knew that,” Milan-Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.

The event that was supposed to test the Santagiulia ice was a segment of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been transferred to the Rho Fiera hockey location, which is being established inside a giant convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will stage lesser games during the games.

Typically, new Olympic venues are trialled at least the prior year to holding podium competitions. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not just about the ice and making sure that the rink is prepared and safe. It’s also about testing concession stands, restrooms and all other amenities inside a brand-new contemporary arena.

This new facility, which is being constructed by a commercial firm, is slated to become Italy’s biggest covered stadium. For after the Olympics, it’s being eyed 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 venue. Tickets for the men’s gold medal game on 22 February – the final day of the Olympics – are priced at as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). That’s more than for any other athletic competition at the Milano Cortina Games. Solely tickets for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.

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

Men's Olympic hockey tournament is scheduled to take place from 11-22 February. Women's event runs from 5-19 February.