Sunday, January 6, 2019 ~ VANCOUVER.
~ by Mary P Brooke, West Shore Voice News
The goal is to play on NHL-sized surface at the 2022 Beijing Olympics and other future events, said IIHF president René Fasel in a post-game interview in Vancouver after the World Juniors on Saturday January 5.
That would see rinks be 26 metres wide x 60 meters long, instead of 30 meters wide.
The IIHF president liked seeing the World Juniors played on the smaller ice in Vancouver this season. “It’s a different game – the skills, the speed.”
“Our game is really good, safe. It was never as good as now. I think the small ice is good,” he told media.
Fasel gave the example that the arena used for the Florida hockey team was “brought in by four meters” to make it smaller, which has been a success for the venue and team. “Extending is harder, easier to (go smaller).”
“For the Beijing Olympics in 2022 — if ice hockey is there — we will play on small ice,” said the IIHF president. He said that Finland in 2022 will play award championships on small ice. Also, that 120 players from NHL and award championships have already played on small ice “so it’s not a big change for them”.
Fasel said that in Europe the game is normally played on bigger ice. He feels that a smaller rink will attract more interest for fans to watch World Juniors and Women’s hockey. “At the end we play for the fans,” he said, implying that a faster more skill-oriented game made possible on a smaller rink is more exciting for fans. “It’s a different game.”
The 2019 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships Tournament was played Dec 26, 2018 through Jan 5, 2019 in Vancouver (Group A, Quarter-Finals, Semi-Finals, and Finals) and in Victoria (Group B, and Quarter-Finals).
The World Juniors will be back in Canada for 2021, to be played in Alberta in Edmonton and Red Deer.
