The Olympic Hockey Arena Isn't Just Behind Schedule, The Rink Is The Wrong Size
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We're just a few months out from the NHL's highly anticipated return to the Olympics, and it's looking like it could turn into a mess.
Not only is the main arena for the men's and women's ice hockey tournament not done being constructed yet, but there's no backup plan if it isn't finished on time.
Now, it's been revealed that the ice sheet may be the completely wrong size.
READ: TIME TO PANIC? THE OLYMPIC HOCKEY VENUE STILL ISN’T DONE AND THERE’S NO PLAN B
"The ice surface, it looks like it's going to be smaller than NHL rink standard by probably 3 or 4 feet," Team Canada men's assistant coach Peter DeBoer told Sportsnet. "I don't understand how that happened."
It what?
Are you f--king kidding me?
Now, there are dimensional discrepancies between international or Olympic-sized rinks and NHL rinks.
The IIHF standard used in most international tournaments and in a lot of European leagues is around 196.9 feet long by 95.1 feet wide. Meanwhile, an NHL rink is 200 feet long by 85 feet wide.
Despite this tournament being played in Italy, the plan was to use the smaller NHL-style dimensions. But 3 to 4 feet shorter would make it about the length of a traditional Olympic-sized sheet, but 10 feet narrower.
That's small.
With Olympic hockey set to return, Italy’s rink is unfinished — and may be built 3–4 feet too short, raising fairness and readiness concerns. (Getty Images)
It could also be enough to affect the tournament itself, and should favor the two North American teams.
Historically, European teams excelled with games built around speed because they played on bigger sheets of ice. Meanwhile, physicality was a bigger part of the North American game because the ice is smaller.
So, tournaments on NHL-sized rinks normally favor the Canadians and the Americans.
Of course, seeing as most of the teams in the tournament feature players who play in the NHL regularly and are used to that style of play, that advantage may not be as big, but it could still be there.
Still, it's a bad look for the Milan and Cortina Olympics folks that they're having such a hard time preparing for the men's and women's tournaments, which will likely be some of the biggest events of the Games.