Champions Hockey League thoughts..

Jan 21, 2011
5,146
3,797
Massachusetts
Not sure if this is a good forum place to put this (mods can move it to garner more of an opinion/response). But recently the NHL Network has been airing some Champions Hockey League action, and it actually gives me some consistent viewing of international hockey and the way it's played.

As I'm watching Brno vs JYP, I feel like the bigger ice surface makes the game look 'slower'. I understand it's not NHL quality players but I'm starting to feel like a bigger ice surface makes more 'dead ice' space come alive a lot more.

I also feel as though in international hockey, cheap shots come along more frequently than in the NHL, although with a bigger ice surface I'm not sure how well a (for example) Milan Lucic, would fare in the bigger ice surface.

anyone else have any thoughts?
 

Rigafan

Registered User
Jul 28, 2016
902
195
Europe
Not sure if this is a good forum place to put this (mods can move it to garner more of an opinion/response). But recently the NHL Network has been airing some Champions Hockey League action, and it actually gives me some consistent viewing of international hockey and the way it's played.

As I'm watching Brno vs JYP, I feel like the bigger ice surface makes the game look 'slower'. I understand it's not NHL quality players but I'm starting to feel like a bigger ice surface makes more 'dead ice' space come alive a lot more.

I also feel as though in international hockey, cheap shots come along more frequently than in the NHL, although with a bigger ice surface I'm not sure how well a (for example) Milan Lucic, would fare in the bigger ice surface.

anyone else have any thoughts?

Hockey in Europe other than, Finland and UK, is played as a more possession based, pass pass pass then shoot game. As opposed to the NA style dump and chase, which would be seen as wasting possession in most euro leagues, and play the boards. So with this style it works better on big ice has players have more space and time without getting run over!

I agree it leads to a slower game and usually lower scoring chances but we all have our preferences and I prefer the Euro style.

like I said though Finland use random sized Ice rinks (I think the teams can decide?) and they also seem to play faster and more physical that most of Europe. Same in the UK. They have a mixture of ice sizes - I think 2 teams use NHL sized but because of the amount of NA imports you can see how NA hockey fares on International sized ice if you watch a UK game.
 
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Jan 21, 2011
5,146
3,797
Massachusetts
Hockey in Europe other than, Finland and UK, is played as a more possession based, pass pass pass then shoot game. As opposed to the NA style dump and chase, which would be seen as wasting possession in most euro leagues, and play the boards. So with this style it works better on big ice has players have more space and time without getting run over!

I agree it leads to a slower game and usually lower scoring chances but we all have our preferences and I prefer the Euro style.

like I said though Finland use random sized Ice rinks (I think the teams can decide?) and they also seem to play faster and more physical that most of Europe. Same in the UK. They have a mixture of ice sizes - I think 2 teams use NHL sized but because of the amount of NA imports you can see how NA hockey fares on International sized ice if you watch a UK game.

I think you hit the nail on the head. It seems like in European Hockey, the game is played like European Football (where possession matters). I also like seeing some former NHL players playing in Eurpe and at least seeing them thrive over there.
 
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