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Hockey, one of the major events of the Winter Olympics and which welcomes back NHL players for the first time in more than a decade, will be played on ice shorter than NHL regulation size.
Men’s and women’s games in two arenas will be played on rinks measuring 196.85 feet long by 85.3 feet wide. The NHL’s dimensions are 200 feet by 85 feet, so the Olympic ice will be slightly wider and more than three feet shorter.
The International Ice Hockey Federation has approved the Milan rinks, which fit one of the governing body’s standard sizes and were used by the Pittsburgh Penguins and Nashville Predators for two games in Stockholm in November.
The IIHF moved to NHL dimensions at the Olympics starting in 2018 and was used again in 2022. The 2026 Games in February will mark the first time NHL players will compete in the Olympics since 2014 in Sochi.
The IIHF confirmed on Monday that the different size was in place in Milan, without explanation.
“While these dimensions differ slightly from those of a typical NHL rink, they comply with IIHF regulations, match the size of the rink used at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, and are fully compliant with the dimensions required by the NHL as part of the Global Series Game arena specifications,” the federation said.
“All those involved, the IIHF, the organizing committee, the NHL, the NHLPA, the International Olympic Committee and the appropriate venue authorities agree that the differences in rink specifications are insignificant and should have no impact on the safety or quality of play.”
Olympic hockey was played on international ice measuring 196.85 feet by 98.4 feet in 1998, 2006 and 2014, with a slight variation in Salt Lake City in 2002. It was played on NHL-sized ice in Vancouver in 2010 due to existing arenas.
“It’s the same for every team, and I think that’s the main thing,” Finnish men’s hockey general director Jere Lehtinen told the Associated Press. “Our coaches, maybe that’s more interesting and something you need to pay more attention to.”
The Canadian management team spent months compiling a long list of names vying to wear the maple leaf at Milano Cortina in February.
Canada general manager Doug Armstrong first addressed the fact that the ice was slightly away from NHL regulation size in a podcast in early September, then discussed it again in October. National federations have known these specifications for some time; Canada assistant coach Peter DeBoer recently addressed the subject on a radio show, raising questions about why it’s not NHL-sized ice.
Ice dimensions will be the same at both hockey arenas in February: the main arena which is still under construction and the smaller temporary venue located inside an exhibition center.
Construction work on the Santagiulia ice hockey arena, the new 16,000-seat venue on the outskirts of Milan, is moving forward and organizers told the AP there was “no plan B.”
A test event had to be moved to the Rho Ice Hockey Arena and new test events at the main venue are not scheduled until January 9-11, less than a month before the first puck drops. Workers were still putting the finishing touches on the Rho venue on Friday, just three days before the start of the IIHF Group B Under-20 World Championship which will serve as a test event.
“We realize they’re a little late, but we’re all assuming everything will be taken care of,” Canadian men’s team assistant coach Bruce Cassidy said last week.
NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman has repeatedly cited logistical issues. At the league’s annual board of governors meeting in October, he said: “We are limited in what we can and cannot do, ask and demand and if it reaches a certain point, we will have to deal with it. But I’m not speculating, and we have been constantly assured by the IOC and the IIHF that everything will be fine.”
The Olympic men’s hockey tournament will take place from February 11 to 22. The women’s tournament takes place from February 5 to 19.
Host Ariel Helwani asks golden goal scorer Sidney Crosby if there’s anything the crowd doesn’t know about his overtime goal in the 2010 Vancouver men’s hockey final.
