MILAN — The president of the International Ice Hockey Federation says he’s feeling more confident about the status of the upcoming Milan Cortina Olympic tournament after seeing a test event played at Santagiulia Arena over the weekend.

Luc Tardif was particularly pleased with how the ice surface held up under the duress of a three-game day, which will be a common occurrence with 32 men’s and women’s games scheduled here from Feb. 5 to 22.

“I’m going back happy,” Tardif told The Athletic on Sunday.

“There is no reason that the NHL will not come,” he added later.

While there is still a considerable amount of construction to be done on the second level of the main hockey venue and behind the scenes at an adjacent practice rink, Tardif indicated that they can make due with shortfalls in some areas, if necessary.

But getting the ice right was essential to ensuring the first Olympic tournament in 12 years to feature NHL players went ahead as planned.

“For me, the setup for the sport itself … I’m not worried,” Tardif said. “The hospitality suite, the area for the journalists (is not finished), but my job is ice hockey.”

The NHL and NHL Players’ Association both had staff on site to observe how things ran throughout the test event, but neither group has offered formal comment yet. However, the overwhelming feeling on the ground is that the Games will go ahead as planned.

Still, organizers left virtually no room for error. The NHL would have preferred to see a test event staged at this venue a year ago — just as it was at the main rink in Sochi, Russia, ahead of the 2014 Games — but the building wasn’t ready until this week. Organizers only started the ice installation process on Dec. 20, which delayed a previously scheduled test event by one month.

Tardif acknowledged feeling some pangs of concern as construction delays mounted. He visited this site in December while attending a test event held at the secondary Rho Arena and said he received daily progress updates over the past two months. Three critical days of construction were put on hold at Santagiulia in order to stage seven games featuring Italian men’s teams over the weekend, but it was a necessary step for the organization that oversees the Olympic tournament.

“For us, that was important, this test event,” Tardif said. “We were supposed to have it in December, and after a while, they said, ‘Yes, but with the delay that’s not going to be possible.’ No, no, no. We have to do it. The most important thing is the field of play.

“So that was complicated for them. They had to stop their work, and they are in a hurry.”

Organizers have entrusted Canadian Dan Moffatt with getting the ice right in both Olympic venues. He works for the Colorado Avalanche and was brought in as the “ice master” to lead the crew at his fifth Olympics. He could be seen closely inspecting trouble areas at one end of the sheet during every break in play over the weekend.