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Put aside thin ice. For now, the surface isn't ready.

As NHL athletes preparing to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in more than a ten years, construction on the main hockey venue for the Milano Cortina Games is cutting it close.

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

This situation raises the prospect that there might not be a match held in the main arena until the puck is dropped for the women’s preliminary round at the Olympics on 5 February – one day before the inaugural event.

“The timeline will be very close to the beginning of the Olympics, the timeline is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milan-Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.

The event that was intended to evaluate the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been moved to the Rho Fair hockey venue, which is being set up inside a massive convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will host lesser games during the Olympics.

Typically, new Olympic venues are tested at least the year before to hosting medal events. And with a large hockey venue, it’s not just about the playing surface and making sure that the playing surface is prepared and secure. It’s additionally about testing food outlets, bathrooms and everything else inside a brand-new modern stadium.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being constructed by a commercial firm, is scheduled to become Italy’s largest covered stadium. For after the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.

Despite the postponements and worries, expensive passes are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men’s gold medal game on 22 February – the final day of the games – are priced at as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds the price of any other sports event at the Milano Cortina Games. Only tickets for the inaugural and final events cost more.

The return 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 set to run from 11-22 February. Women's tournament occurs from 5-19 February.