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Put aside poor conditions. For now, the surface isn't ready.

As NHL athletes gearing up to return to the Olympics for the initial occasion in over a ten years, construction on the primary hockey venue for the Milano Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the primary test event for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia arena originally planned for December has been relocated to a smaller venue – and that no new test event has been arranged yet.

The issue creates the possibility 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 – one day before the opening ceremony.

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

The event that was supposed to evaluate the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been transferred to the Rho Fiera hockey location, which is being established inside a giant convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will host lesser games during the Olympics.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the prior year to hosting podium competitions. And with a large hockey venue, it’s not just about the ice and making sure that the playing surface is ready and secure. It’s additionally about checking concession stands, restrooms and all other amenities inside a brand-new contemporary arena.

This new facility, which is being built by a commercial firm, is scheduled to become the nation's biggest indoor arena. For after the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a possible future host of the ATP Finals tennis tournament.

Despite the postponements and concerns, expensive tickets are already being purchased for events at the Santagiulia venue. Tickets for the men's championship final on 22 February – the closing 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 world’s top hockey organization allowing its athletes to participate in the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

Men's Olympic hockey competition is scheduled to take place from 11-22 February. The women’s tournament runs from 5-19 February.