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Forget about thin ice. Currently, there’s no ice.

As NHL players gearing up to return to the Olympics for the first time in more than a ten years, construction on the primary hockey arena for the Milano Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Local organizers confirmed on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia arena originally planned for December has been relocated to a smaller venue – and that no additional trial has been scheduled yet.

The issue creates the possibility that there may not be a match held in the main arena until the competition begins for the women's initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the inaugural event.

“It’s going to be extremely tight to the start of the Olympics, the timeline is very tight. However, we were aware,” Milan-Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier said in a recent update.

The competition that was supposed to evaluate the Santagiulia ice was part of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been transferred to the Rho Fiera hockey location, which is being set up inside a massive convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will host lesser games during the games.

Typically, new Olympic venues are trialled at least the year before to holding medal events. And with a large hockey arena, it’s not just about the playing surface and making sure that the rink is prepared and safe. It’s additionally about testing food outlets, restrooms and everything else inside a newly constructed contemporary stadium.

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

In spite of the postponements and worries, expensive passes are already being purchased for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men’s gold medal game on 22 February – the closing day of the Olympics – are going for as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). This exceeds for any other sports event at the Milano Cortina Games. Only passes for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.

The return of NHL stars at the Olympics was announced in February of last year, with the world’s top hockey organization permitting its athletes to compete in the Winter Games for the initial occasion since 2014 in Sochi.

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