OT: 2022-2023 NCAA Hockey Thread
- Thread starter brainfreeze
- Start date
- Status
As much as I like hockey played on large surfaces, it's such an outlier that i think it does the players a disservice when they go to play elsewhere.
MuckOG
Registered User
- May 18, 2012
- 15,865
- 5,841
It will be a sad day when the Olympic rink is gone, best way to play the game IMO. Especially on the Mariucci ice, always felt like you were flying out there, might be my favorite place to play in the state.
Disagree. Smaller ice forces quicker decisions, more intensity.
Minnewildsota
He who laughs last thinks slowest
- Jun 7, 2010
- 8,882
- 3,092
Wasn't it proven out that larger pieces of ice actually limit scoring as players are often further from the goal (or something like that)?
Bigger ice let’s you actually use your speed and passing more effectively (which fit my own strengths much better) growing up with an Olympic sheet option, we had a season where we went undefeated on the Olympic rink. I think it opens up more skill expression personally but it’s all anecdotal.
Yes it was actually
That's the entire problem. Everyone has more time and space, so everyone tries to use it, thus not forcing the play into the scoring areas to get something to actually happen.
It promotes a less skill game as even less skill players try things they would never get away with on smaller ice. Thus overall, the pace slows, as everyone suddenly thinks they're Kaprizov, and stick handle a mile away from the goal.
Perhaps one can say that is there is a clear difference in skill among players, that the bigger ice gives them a lot of room to display that - better speed, more ability to change direction easily, better stickhandling, etc - but if the players are nearer to being peers, then the extra ice doesn't benefit, and keeping everything tighter makes a more active game.
Right, so a mediocre player like Steel would love large ice because he can pretend to be more skilled than he is. Small ice filters players to their real strengths and weaknesses. The true skill rises to the top, as they make even more exciting plays in the more limited time and space, those who can't handle that, learn to channel their strengths in other directions and become better players for it as well.
Steel would look better, Middleton, worse. Really exposes Dmen with bad technique. Brodin would be fine, as would Spurgeon. Addison would probably look better. Reaves would be a tough watch
Not sure if it is “pretending” as much as the skills just better fitting the environment. Players adapt to the norm, if Olympic rinks were more normalized you would probably see even more emphasis on player speed at the top. McDavid probably wouldn’t mind an extra couple of feet to build more separation on his rushes.
As mentioned earlier in the thread by @Minnewildsota, it's been proven the game slows down and more action happens further from the net and results in less scoring.
Small ice forces quick decisions and higher intensity. Thus the game is faster paced.
Dr Jan Itor
Registered User
Actually, he/she asked if it had been proven.
I'd be interested in seeing such proof, if you have it.
I haven’t argued that plays happen from further away, that is how it works when you make the surface bigger, it’s literally the point that players now have additional space to work with.
I don’t think you can prove that it “slows the game down” as that is just a nebulous interpretation. Players have to travel more, so I guess in that sense it is true, but that’s kind of the point and not a negative if you believe that players should be able to use speed as a differentiator in their games.
I am not saying one is better than the other, simply that I prefer playing and watching on Olympic size rinks, my perception is that it gives more agency to the faster teams compared to the slower, and I like fast.
MuckOG
Registered User
- May 18, 2012
- 15,865
- 5,841
I've also read that the larger ice surface reduces scoring. I'm not going to take the time to dig it up, though.
NHL Rink Size Debate - Tucker Hockey
For decades many hockey experts and fans have discussed and debated the size of the hockey rink dimensions. Is the standard NHL rink 200 feet by 85 feet too small? Should the NHL expand all the rinks to international size 200 feet by 100 feet to make the games more exciting? Expansion would...
www.tuckerhockey.com
Ice hockey rink: why the US rink is smaller than the EU rink
Ice hockey rink: + How big is the hockey rink in the NHL and DEL? + How is the ice treated and kept?
www.owayo.com
IIHF considers smaller, NHL-sized rinks for future events
Rene Fasel, president of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF), said in a news conference on Saturday that he wanted to introduce smaller rinks to future ice hockey events including the 2022 World Championship in Finland and the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing to make the sport more...
news.cgtn.com
I'm not finding the data that came out like 8 yrs or so ago though...
I'd like to see the nhl go olympic and everyone else stay small but whatever, I get the space arguments but like most things it seems a bit overblown, at nhl speed that 7.5 feet along each boards won't be a massive thing unless we go back to a slow plodding lock down defensive hockey.
The larger space promotes defenses to contract towards the goal and not challenge the puck carrier on the outside, slowing everything down.
Players like McDavid and Kaprizov are able to shine even more, as their superior skills separate them from the group as they are able to do things quicker in smaller spaces that are far more impressive.
Just like a wider field in Canadian Football allows lesser players to compete... so does larger ice in hockey.
The longer and wider CFL fields also demand more stamina, the NFL more strength. Wonder if the same is true of larger ice surfaces? My buddies who played Bandy are more about stamina and speed after a long wind up, rather than short burst of acceleration that modern hockey is now about.
I don't think any change would allow teams to collapse more than they already do now. Only so much prime real estate in front of the net.
- Status
