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

As NHL athletes preparing to make a comeback to the Olympics for the first time in more than a ten years, building work on the main hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

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

This situation raises the prospect that there may not be a match held in the main arena until the puck is dropped for the women's initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the inaugural event.

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

The event that was intended to evaluate the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been transferred to the Rho Fair hockey venue, which is being established inside a giant convention center on the outskirts of Milan and will stage secondary matches during the games.

Typically, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the prior year to holding podium competitions. And with a large hockey venue, it’s not only about the playing surface and ensuring that the rink is ready and secure. It’s also about checking food outlets, bathrooms and everything else inside a brand-new modern arena.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being constructed by a private company, is slated to become the nation's biggest covered stadium. For after the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a possible future host of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.

In spite of the postponements and worries, high-priced passes are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Seats for the men’s gold medal game on 22 February – the closing day of the Olympics – are priced at as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). This exceeds for any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Only passes for the opening and closing ceremonies cost more.

The comeback of NHL stars at the Olympics was revealed in February of last year, with the premier hockey league allowing its players to participate in the Winter Olympics for the initial occasion since 2014 in Sochi.

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