> From: "Greg Ambrose" <[log in to unmask]>
>
> Well, it only too only day for the NHL commissioner to get to  Salt Lake
and
> burst the bubble for all us idealists.  According to Bettman (I saw it in
> the Boston Herald today, couldn't get the link), the play we are seeing in
> the Olympics has nothing to do with the size of the rink or the
elimination
> of the two line pass.  For him, it is just the skill of the players.  I
> would like to ask Mr. Bettman why, with the same players, the play in his
> league is so unexciting.

Because there are 22 more teams in the NHL than this final round of the
Qlympics?

As much as people might not like to admit it, he's probably right.  I've
been saying this for weeks and I'm kinda shocked that people are actually
surprised at the high-level of play.  The exciting play is FAR more
attributable to the players and the style of play (unlike Nagano, there are
FAR fewer teams playing the extreme defensive styles that we see in the
NHL.....and other European leagues), than the red line or wider ice.

Go back and watch the World Cup games from 1996.  Those were played with the
NHL ruleset and they were just as exciting as the games we are seeing today.
And the Nagano games weren't very good mainly because both the Czechs and
Swedes were playing their boring defensive styles that just sucked the life
out of the arena, despite the large ice.

I'm not against removing the 2-line pass rule (I've been for it's removal
for some time now), but I'm also not going to give it all the credit for
what has been a fabulous bunch of games (except for some of the German
games, especially Germany vs Canada).

I know I can safely say that anyone waiting for a larger ice surface
shouldn't hold their breath.  It's just going to be WAY too expensive to do
something like that (especially the arenas that have lots of summer events
going on).  The only thing the NHL could do is mandate it in every new arena
that will be built from this point forward.

Erik Johnson