By DANIELLA MATAR and STEPHEN WHYNO, Related Press
MILAN (AP) — Hockey, one of many premier occasions on the Winter Olympics and one that’s welcoming NHL gamers again for the primary time in additional than a decade, will happen on ice that’s shorter than NHL-regulation dimension.
Males’s and girls’s video games at two arenas might be performed in rinks which are 60 meters lengthy by 26 meters vast, or 196.85-by-85.3 toes. NHL dimensions are 200 by 85 toes, so the Olympic ice might be barely wider and greater than 3 toes shorter.
The Worldwide Ice Hockey Federation authorized the Milan rinks, which match one of many governing physique’s customary sizes and was utilized by the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators for 2 video games in Stockholm in November.
The IIHF shifted to the NHL dimensions on the Olympics starting in 2018 and used once more in 2022. The 2026 Video games in February mark the primary time NHL gamers might be on the Olympics since 2014 in Sochi.
The IIHF on Monday confirmed the completely different dimension was in place in Milan with out clarification.
“While these dimensions differ slightly from a typical NHL rink, they are consistent with IIHF regulations, match the rink size used at the Beijing 2022 Olympic Winter Games and are fully consistent with the dimensions the NHL requires as part of its Global Series Game arena specifications,” the federation stated. “All involved, the IIHF, the Organizing Committee, NHL, NHLPA, IOC and the relevant venue authorities agree that the differences in rink specifications are insignificant, and should not impact either the safety or quality of game play.”
Olympic hockey had been performed on worldwide ice of 60 by 30 meters (196.85 by 98.4 toes) in 1998, 2006 and 2014, with a slight variation in Salt Lake Metropolis in 2002. It was performed on NHL-sized ice in Vancouver in 2010 due to the prevailing arenas.
“It’s the same for every team, and I think that’s the bottom line,” Finland males’s hockey common supervisor Jere Lehtinen informed The Related Press. “Our coaches, maybe it’s more interesting and something you need to pay attention more.”
Canada common supervisor Doug Armstrong first introduced up the ice being barely off from NHL regulation dimension on a podcast in early September after which mentioned it once more in October. Nationwide federations have been conscious of the specs for fairly a while; Canada assistant coach Peter DeBoer broached the subject just lately on a radio present, elevating questions on why it’s not NHL-sized ice.
The ice dimensions would be the identical in each hockey arenas in February: the primary enviornment that’s nonetheless being constructed and the smaller, momentary venue that’s located inside an exhibition middle.
Development on the Santagiulia Ice Hockey Area — the brand new, 16,000-seat venue on the outskirts of Milan — goes all the way down to the wire and organizers informed The AP that there was “no plan B.”
A take a look at occasion needed to be moved to the Rho Ice Hockey Area and new take a look at occasions on the predominant venue aren’t scheduled till Jan. September 11, lower than a month earlier than the primary puck is dropped. Staff on Friday have been nonetheless placing the ending touches to the venue in Rho, simply three days earlier than the beginning of the IIHF Group B Below 20 World Championship that can function a take a look at occasion.
“We’re aware that they’re behind schedule a little bit, but we’re all assuming that that’ll all be taken care of,” Canada males’s assistant coach Bruce Cassidy stated final week.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has introduced up logistics considerations repeatedly. On the league’s annual fall Board of Governors assembly in October, he stated: “We are constrained in what we can and can’t do, request and demand and if it reached a certain point, we’ll have to deal with it. But I’m not speculating, and we’ve been constantly assured by the IOC and the IIHF that it will be OK.”
The boys’s Olympic hockey match is scheduled from Feb. 11-22. The ladies’s match runs from Feb. 5-19.
Whyno reported from New York.
