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Forget about poor conditions. For now, there’s no ice.

With NHL players preparing to return to the Olympics for the initial occasion in more than a ten years, construction on the main hockey venue for the Milan-Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Local organizers announced on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia arena that was scheduled for December has been moved to a smaller arena – and that no new test event has been scheduled yet.

The issue raises the prospect that there may 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 – 24 hours before the inaugural event.

“It’s going to be extremely tight to the beginning of the games, the timeline is very tight. But we knew that,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated recently.

The competition that was intended to test the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been moved to the Rho Fiera hockey location, which is being set up inside a massive convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will host secondary matches during the Olympics.

Usually, new Olympic venues are tested at least the year before to holding podium competitions. And with a large hockey arena, it’s not only about the playing surface and making sure that the rink is ready and secure. It’s additionally about testing concession stands, bathrooms and everything else inside a newly constructed modern stadium.

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

In spite of the delays and concerns, high-priced tickets 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 Olympics – are priced at as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds the price of any other sports event at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely passes for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.

The return of NHL players at the Olympics was revealed last February, with the world’s top hockey league permitting its players to compete in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

Men's Olympic hockey tournament is set to run from 11-22 February. The women’s event runs from 5-19 February.