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

With NHL athletes gearing up to return to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in over a ten years, building work on the main hockey arena for the Milano Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Local organizers announced on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia arena that was scheduled for December has been relocated to a more compact venue – and that no additional trial has been arranged yet.

The issue raises the prospect that there might not be a game held in the main arena until the competition begins for the women’s preliminary round 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 timeline is very tight. But we knew that,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated in a recent update.

The event that was supposed to test the Santagiulia ice was part of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been transferred to the Rho Fair hockey venue, which is being established inside a massive exhibition hall on the outskirts of Milan and will host secondary matches during the games.

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 ice and making sure that the rink is ready and safe. It’s also about checking food outlets, bathrooms and everything else inside a newly constructed modern arena.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being built by a commercial firm, is scheduled to become the nation's largest indoor arena. For after the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential upcoming venue of the ATP Finals tennis tournament.

Despite the postponements and concerns, high-priced passes are already being purchased for events at the Santagiulia arena. Seats for the men’s gold medal final on 22 February – the closing day of the Olympics – are priced at as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). That’s more than the price of any other sports event 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 last February, with the world’s top hockey organization allowing its athletes to compete in the Winter Olympics for the initial occasion since 2014 in Sochi.

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