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

With NHL athletes preparing to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in over a ten years, building work on the primary hockey venue 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 facility that was scheduled for December has been relocated to a smaller arena – and that no new test event has been scheduled 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 inaugural event.

“The timeline will be extremely tight to the beginning of the Olympics, the timeline is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milan-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. This tournament has been transferred to the Rho Fiera hockey venue, which is being established inside a giant convention center on the outskirts of Milan and will stage secondary matches during the games.

Usually, new Olympic venues are tested at least the prior year to hosting medal events. And with a large hockey venue, it’s not just about the ice and making sure that the playing surface is ready and safe. It’s additionally about testing concession stands, restrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed modern stadium.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being constructed by a private company, is scheduled to become the nation's biggest indoor arena. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential upcoming venue of the ATP Finals tennis tournament.

In spite of the postponements and concerns, expensive tickets are already being purchased for events 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 the price of any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Only passes for the opening and closing ceremonies cost more.

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

The men’s Olympic hockey tournament is set to run from 11-22 February. Women's tournament occurs from 5-19 February.