Real men play on wider surfaces on a PS3.
- jmatchett383

Absolutely. But my point is that he's played on it before and has had success. Even with some of the world's best players out, he obviously was able to play on it. You'd think he was able to realize the difference in angles and spacing at that tournament and could use that experience to his advantage this year.
- jmatchett383

I think he can make the adjustments, I'm just not sure the big ice caters to his strengths. It's like taking a F1 car to a rally race... yeah, it's faster than everything else out there, but can it corner in mud?

It works the other way too. If I'm Sweden, and this was Vancouver 2014, I might consider weighing Karlsson against a guy like Hedman, who can play a heavier NHL-style game.

i have, most recently this summer, and prior to that in sweden while i was exchange student in college, and at a few other rinks in north america over the years. it is different. 15 feet of extra ice is a tremendous amount of real estate. it's less physical, the angles are different. the room behind and around the net is like an ocean. players have more time to make plays and more room to gain speed moving up ice.

i would love to see the nhl split the difference and make the rinks somewhere around 90-92 feet in width. in my opinion, 85 is too narrow, and 100 is too wide. my college rink is 90 feet and it's fabulous.
- hammarby31

Thanks to you and Tomahawk. Was looking for some insight. Ive always thought it wasn't as big of a deal as others make it out to be. Reading what you wrote, I guess I'm wrong.

As the person on here who probably has the most experience, how would you feel about the NHL having non-regulated rink sizes, but only using minimum (current NHL) and maximum (international) rink sizes? Similar to baseball stadiums that have fairly unrestricted maximum stadium dimensions. It would be interesting to see what would happen with the next generation of stadiums, and would probably impact team structure.
- jmatchett383

Thats interesting

As the person on here who probably has the most experience, how would you feel about the NHL having non-regulated rink sizes, but only using minimum (current NHL) and maximum (international) rink sizes? Similar to baseball stadiums that have fairly unrestricted maximum stadium dimensions. It would be interesting to see what would happen with the next generation of stadiums, and would probably impact team structure.
- jmatchett383

i don't like it. the nhl used the be that way until all the new arenas were built in the 90s. buffalo and boston had smaller ice, iirc...but there might have been others.

college arenas all over the country are different in size, like mine at UVM, and i don't understand why they do this. i think the surface of play should be a standard size.

As the person on here who probably has the most experience, how would you feel about the NHL having non-regulated rink sizes, but only using minimum (current NHL) and maximum (international) rink sizes? Similar to baseball stadiums that have fairly unrestricted maximum stadium dimensions. It would be interesting to see what would happen with the next generation of stadiums, and would probably impact team structure.
- jmatchett383

Teams in the Finnish Liiga have varying sizes... from a little larger than NHL up to full IIHF size. I think some major college programs have arenas with full IIHF too. Not sure it's a huge deal for them.

Wouldn't it be awesome for the Flyers' D if they could construct a teardrop-shaped rink, and never change sides.

Thanks to you and Tomahawk. Was looking for some insight. Ive always thought it wasn't as big of a deal as others make it out to be. Reading what you wrote, I guess I'm wrong.
- PhillySportsGuy

i don't think you're necessarily wrong. every player is different, and it affects some more than others. in general though, i do think a different type of game is played on the wider ice.

when i was in israel this summer, it didn't have as big of impact on me mentally as i thought it would, as it had been quite some time since i had played on big ice. i got used to it fairly quickly, but it's still different. if i had to choose, i prefer the smaller ice.

Politically, I can understand why they chose the players that they did... but if I'm the TC brain trust, and I can afford to piss people off in a singular pursuit of gold, I'd cut guys like Benn, Getzlaf, Perry, Nash, Carter and Weber knowing that they're better suited to the NHL rink than the IIHF one.

I'm loading up on guys like Brian Campbell, Keith Yandle, G, Seguin, Hall, Spezza, Couture... guys that can flat out make plays with the puck on their sticks on the big ice. And Marty St. Louis makes my team on the 1st cut.
- Tomahawk

The size of the rink should be a small consideration in my opinion. Remember saying team execs don't realize the rink is still 200 ft long? What's far more important is having a blend of players that compliment each other. A guy like Getzlaff is going to make plays with the puck regardless of what the size of the rink is. And I want two way players in the mix also. And not one dimensional offensive defenseman over flat out all around studs like Weber. There is still going to be plenty of play around the net, along the wall, and in the corners.

Shea Weber, to me, is the best (maybe 2nd best) defenseman on the planet. Leaving him off would be akin to leaving Pronger off a team after his Norris/Hart season simply because of his skating. And that makes no sense to me.
- jmatchett383

No question about it in my opinion. Weber is going to play a lot for Team Canada and for good reason. I don't care how big the rink is, the goal is in the same place. And Weber is Weber.

i don't think you're necessarily wrong. every player is different, and it affects some more than others. in general though, i do think a different type of game is played on the wider ice.

when i was in israel this summer, it didn't have as big of impact on me mentally as i thought it would, as it had been quite some time since i had played on big ice. i got used to it fairly quickly, but it's still different. if i had to choose, i prefer the smaller ice.
- hammarby31

I Imagine it being like football players being raised playing in a Mike Leach offense. (Almost exclusively passing). Then having to adjust to the NFL.

No question about it in my opinion. Weber is going to play a lot for Team Canada and for good reason. I don't care how big the rink is, the goal is in the same place. And Weber is Weber.
- MJL

Weber and Suter are both going to play a lot.

Weber and Suter are both going to play a lot.
- PhillySportsGuy

Hopefully USA meets Canada in the medal round, and we can finally put to rest the question of which defenseman was more instrumental to Nashville's level of mediocre success in the early 2010'as.

Amazing... Landeskog is wearing an 'A' for Tre Kronor as a 22-year-old... over Alfie... kid must have some Jedi leadership skills.

New blob

New blob
- PhillySportsGuy

lol this never gets old, imo