The problem for the Americans and Canucks is that Olympic ice hockey is played on an Olympic sized sheet of ice, which is substantially larger than an NHL sheet. The larger ice puts a premium on speed and passing while the smaller NHL ice increases the importance of checking. In Europe and Scandinavia, hockey is played on Olympic sized ice, giving the European players an advantage in the Olympics.
This makes the U.S. 1980 "Miracle" at Lake Placid even more miraculous.
BTW, one of the kids' hockey coaches in Southern California is a former Russian Central Red Army hockey center. There is a display at his rink that shows he has a European Championships gold medal, an Olympic gold medal, he is on the Stanley Cup, he was voted the Oilers most outstanding new player his first year with the team, and he was a center on the Anaheim Ducks when Paul Karia was his winger. Other than that, he didn't do much in the sport [ha ha].
George SSSS
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02-23-2006, 11:58 PM
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