Olympic Sized Rinks...

[coachcap]

After seeing UNH's huge home ice, some thoughts & questions:
-The big rink leads to a wide open skating style on offense & much more area to cover on defense
-It is a great advantage for the Wildcats as they practice on it all the time & the visitors have to adjust to playing on a larger ice surface.
-Should UConn's new ice barn house an Olympic sized rink?
-Does Coach Cav. prefer to play the associated wide open skating style that this sized rink entices?

 

[SubbaBub]

Olympic ice is the hockey equivalent of artificial turf in football or a fast track in horse racing. If you can recruit to it, then it can be an advantage. It is the worst possible thing for this year's team which is short on wind and skating ability. We'd love a reduced rink that favors defense and hard hitting. The barn should be standard NHL dimensions.

 

[IceBus]

I actually prefer the Olympic size. I love watching European hockey leagues and the KHL on TV. Hockey is more entertaining with more space. But the UConn team will be playing at the XL Center which is NHL size, and also players might prefer an NHL size if they have NHL aspirations. So despite preferring Olympic-sized rinks I would probably keep the program on NHL sized.

 

[primus74]

I actually prefer the Olympic size. I love watching European hockey leagues and the KHL on TV. Hockey is more entertaining with more space. But the UConn team will be playing at the XL Center which is NHL size, and also players might prefer an NHL size if they have NHL aspirations. So despite preferring Olympic-sized rinks I would probably keep the program on NHL sized.

Yeah, build an NHL-sized rink. UConn would need to start recruiting a lot more speed and recruiting to the rink. UNH players like Willows and Kelleher were skating circles around the UConn players up in Durham.

 

[SubbaBub]

Jim Calhoun laughs at your Olympic sized rink, would prefer to play on a frozen swimming pool.

 

[Kgun7]

UMASS-Amherst is listed as 200 X 95 (WTF?) so I'm not sure what goes into the decision making process when they build the rinks. I've always preferred Olympic style hockey ... larger sheet and no fighting. College Hockey News only lists about 7 or 8 Olympic size rinks.

http://www.collegehockeynews.com/almanac/arenas.php

 

[Kgun7]

Yeah, build an NHL-sized rink. UConn would need to start recruiting a lot more speed and recruiting to the rink. UNH players like Willows and Kelleher were skating circles around the UConn players up in Durham.

So when UNH played in Hartford did the smaller rink size negate the advantage? Kelleher may not project well to the pros ... but he is a very good college player on any size rink.

 

[brasssbonanzaa]

I'd go with what BU did and make it 200x90. The Olympic sheet really is for a specific coaching style, and if you don't recruit to it you end up shooting yourself in the foot because a lot of players don't like it. 200X90 allows for a bit more space, still close to the pro-size rink, and you don't need to coach to the size of the rink.