watching US v Canada and the rink looks NHL size. Olympic width and long corners make a different game and D need to be careful not to get caught over grinding as an elite forward can create a break away like play out of the corner. anyone know if rink is below standard Olympic size?
Bejing ice rink looks smaller than Olympic size
- Thread starter blion72
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thanks and I hadn't heard that. I never knew it was an option to have smaller rink for olympics.
I believe the reason is that they are using multiple venues, and one isn't big enough for the larger rink.
Although impossible to accomplish I have always thought it would be great if the NHL would adopt the international size rink to allow more room for skating. The players are too big now for the NHL rinks.
The NHL actually negotiates this every Olympics - the NHL almost demands a regulation NHL rink or they won't show up - only Russia had the clout a couple Winter Olympics ago to tell the NHL to go pound sand and Sochi used an Olympic sized ice surface
There was a huge push in 1984-88 to have NHL rinks be Olympic size as the rink size debate had been around forever.
Montreal always had a rink that was larger than most NHL teams' home surfaces and Toronto had what is today considered standard NHL regulation size 200'x85' Montreal Forum was about 200'x90'
The Olympic size rink has been 200'x100'
Take today's NHL rink and imagine have 7.5 more feet to maneuver when you are at the side boards...would basically be the entire bench area and maybe even a couple feet behind as it is some 15 feet wider in total
Makes a HUGE difference in the corners as the radius is gigantically larger
Calgary and a couple other rinks built around that time were designed to accommodate an Olympic size ice surface
Bettman hated the idea because of the loss of seat revenue
There really is no debate as to the bigger ice surface would promote a better game
The question is who is/was going to pay for it; neither the owners nor the NHLPA wanted to "eat" the decrease
The old Boston Garden had an undersized rink. I looked it up and it was 191ft x 83ft.
Had Orr played on a larger ice surface like say Montreal, he probably would have escaped a couple or so knee surgeries ...the Flying Frenchmen knew they had a speed advantage so the larger ice surface allowed them to optimize their skills and conversely, the tougher, rougher, Ontario and Western Canadian teams loved to slow down the skill teams by playing on a smaller ice surface - more collisions, more fights, less blowout games on smaller ice sizes where the skill players didn't have as much room to maneuver
I think that is correct, you could have it both ways. Several college rinks are Olympic size. I think Minny, the Alaska schools, etc. It is a more entertaining game for the spectator. A guy Crosby just becomes an experience to watch - and probably a few less knee surgeries. Around twenty years ago I was able to attend some pro games in Europe, and it was just fun to watch. I will never forget one team had a couple D who were under 6' and about 180. they could handle the speed out of the corners. needed to be quick. that particular rink just exposed D from the corner and a couple plays looked like breakaways out of the corner when D got burned. Other thing I noticed is that the extra 15' width and longer neutral zone take the pressure off the refs who never call holding or hooking. many of the D cannot touch the forwards, so can't hold them. More entertaining for sure. if you like to watch the exceptional players.