Hey folks,
OK, I have to throw out my "duh" moment of the day: I wrote today about the 2010 Olympics, but missed the glaring point that, in these Olympics, hockey will be played on NHL-sized ice at GM Place. My apologies for my dumb error.
I believe this marks the first Olympics in which the European-sized ice surface will not be used. The construction would've been too great to make the necessary changes, so here we have it.
Now that brings me to my question, one that John from Arlington brought up to me in an e-mail: Do U.S. and Canadian teams gain an advantage with this change?
Very little, if any. Most of the players on the medal contending teams will be stacked with NHL players anyways.
Posted by: Chad | February 12, 2009 at 10:49 AM
What about the 1988 Olympics up in Calgary?
Fairly certain they didn't modify the rink at the Saddledome.
Posted by: Gravypan | February 12, 2009 at 02:03 PM
Gravypan,
Actually, according to a few stories I've read, the Saddledome was the first major arena in North America that was able to have hockey games on international standard-size ice.
-- Tracey
Posted by: Tracey | February 12, 2009 at 03:39 PM