Olympic Hockey: Size Definately Matters

It's downright strange how dominant the two North American men's hockey teams are proving to be in the Vancouver Olympics. Hmm, are they really that much better than the Europeans? I'm not so sure. I'm looking forward to the U.S. / Canadian gold medal game this Sunday as much as anybody else. But come on, the fact that this tournament is being played on an NHL-sized rink, and not the larger Olympic rink that's been used in past years, gives a distinct advantage to American and Canadian teams. The smaller rink forces the close, non-stop hitting Canadian/U.S. style of play on the Europeans, most of whom have grown up on larger rinks that favor open ice skating and fancier passing plays. The result is that these Olympics are turning out to be more an advertorial for the National Hockey League than a true world tournament. It's too bad, because in past tournaments, North American players have performed extremely well on larger rinks, and the game has been more wide open and entertaining, at least if you ask this hockey fan.