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Insiders reveal detail on Olympic Rink that will cause huge problems for NHL
The NHL has a major problem brewing with this year's Olympic Arena, and now Team Canada coach Pete DeBoer has confirmed it will be a smaller rink than NHL norms.
The NHL season will pause from February 5th to February 22nd as players travel to Italy to partake in their first Olympics since 2014. However, the league is raising some serious concerns about the arena still under construction in Italy.
Italy Olympics arena will be even smaller than NHL-sized rinks, say insiders
Not only are there serious concerns about the actual ice-sheet and venue, there's concerns the arena won't even be finished construction by the time the Olympics begin.
Now shockingly, insiders are reporting it will be even smaller than NHL rinks - instead f the usual-sized international ice.
Not only may the arena not be finished, and as recently as Halloween there was no roof on the building - but that Pete DeBoer shared earlier this week that the arena in Milan may be smaller.
So, we knew that it's not going to be Olympic-sized, but it was supposed to be built to NHL standards. Now apparently the rink that's being constructed is going to be smaller than NHL standards by 3 or 4 feet.
- Frank Seravalli
So, we knew that it's not going to be Olympic-sized, but it was supposed to be built to NHL standards. Now apparently the rink that's being constructed is going to be smaller than NHL standards by 3 or 4 feet.
- Frank Seravalli
Not only is this a catastrophic failure of planning and construction from Italy and the IOC, this is a major issue that will actually change the entire play on the ice. This will certainly favour North American teams used to the smaller ice, but an even further restricted rink will make it more difficult for players to find open space.
The contracted rink will allow players to block lanes and make physical plays much easier. In fact, analysts have already suggested this may lead to Tom Wilson getting the call for Canada - who could judge out Zach Hyman for a final spot.
This will continue to be an issue for the NHL to watch as the Olympics near, but the arena construction at least already looks to be a major problem.
| POLL | ||
DECEMBRE 2 | 445 ANSWERS Insiders reveal detail on Olympic Rink that will cause huge problems for NHL Do you think the smaller rink will be an issue that affects play in the Olympics? | ||
| Yes | 317 | 71.2 % |
| No | 128 | 28.8 % |
| List of polls | ||