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Message: [QUOTE="kibblesnbits, post: 5046037, member: 97"] Around the time the Whittemore Center was built a number of schools adopted Olympic-sized (or nearly Olympic-sized) rinks. Minnesota and UMass were in that group. It was seen as getting ahead of a trend. However, that trend halted and now having an other than NHL sized rink (beyond a few feet plus or minus) is apparently seen as a negative in recruiting. "Don't go there, scouts want to see you on a pro rink" - or at least that's the excuse I heard UNH gave when deciding to downsize. Then again, they haven't exactly had great coaching over the last 20 years so who knows how significant rink size really is to the downfall of what used to be a very popular, highly successful program. As for the post-renovation size, I suspect the 90' is accurate. It was the reference to that being NHL size that I found amusing. Many of the old buildings had odd sized rinks. IIRC Boston Garden's was about 10' short and a few feet narrow. With today's massive and fast players it would be like playing in a phone booth. However, I think every NHL rink built in the past 50+ years is 200x85. In an ideal world I would like to see a slightly larger sheet as I agree that the men have probably outgrown it, but the standard is so firmly established that I don't expect to see it during my lifetime. [/QUOTE]