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

As NHL athletes gearing up to return to the Olympic Games for the first time in over a ten years, building work on the main hockey arena for the Milano Cortina Games is cutting it close.

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

This situation raises the prospect that there may not be a match held in the primary venue until the competition begins 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 start of the games, the schedule is very tight. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier said in a recent update.

The event that was supposed to test 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 location, which is being set up inside a giant exhibition hall on Milan’s outskirts and will host lesser games during the games.

Usually, new Olympic venues are trialled at least the year before to hosting podium competitions. And with a large hockey venue, it’s not just about the playing surface and making sure that the rink is prepared and secure. It’s additionally about checking food outlets, restrooms and all other amenities inside a brand-new modern arena.

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

Despite the postponements and worries, expensive passes are already being purchased for events at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men's championship final on 22 February – the final day of the games – are priced at as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). This exceeds the price of any other sports event at the Milan-Cortina Games. Only 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 world’s top hockey organization allowing its players to compete in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

Men's Olympic hockey competition is set to run from 11-22 February. Women's event runs from 5-19 February.