With all this talk of playing style versus surface size, I'm interested
to see how these affects the individual league and NCAA Championships.
Yes, it is evident that many programs are deciding to move to the larger
Olympic-sized surfaces.  Looking at the international game, the larger
surface emphasises speed and skating over the physical game.  That said,
I don't see a noticeable impact during the regular season, where teams
will play a majority of the games on their home ice.  I wonder how this
size difference will come into play come playoff time.  Most of these
playoffs are held in larger venues that are normally host to professional
hockey.  Accordingly, they have the desired smaller surfaces for North
American professional hockey.  How will this affect the teams that play
the majority of their games on Olympic ice?  Will they be able to adjust
their playing style for the three week run for the national championship,
or will the NCAA's be dominated by the teams that continue to play on
regulation-sized ice?  Just some thoughts along the lines of this rink
size discussion.
 
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* Robb Dunn                         University of Michigan *
* Project Administrator                   Sport Facilities *
*                                      Research Laboratory *
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* [log in to unmask]            Cal '93, Michigan '94 and '97 *
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