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The Canadians and the Americans, in particular, have struggled to adapt to the larger ice surface that is more familiar to European players like Sweden's Henrik Zetterberg. |
Big ice suddenly
an issue
By Rich Libero | NHL.com
Feb. 20, 2006
TORINO, Italy - For some reason the big ice surface wasn't much of a conversation piece in the 2002 Winter Olympics, but after four games of preliminary round action we're seeing the USA and Canada admit that they're struggling on the 100-foot wide sheet.
Perhaps the longer preliminary format in these Olympics, which is two games more than it was in Salt Lake, has lent itself to more long-term strategies. Many of the European teams, especially Russia, have admitted that they've needed time to gel, but when you look at teams such as Finland, Switzerland and Slovakia, they appear to have not only a game plan, but a cohesion and consistency that's been elusive for others.
Much of it has to do with the fact that these programs have enjoyed consistency among the players, coaching staff, philosophy and time spent on the big surface. When Finland prepared for Canada, they knew in advance what they wanted to do, while Canada performed the post-mortem on their shocking loss to Switzerland.
"Our first idea was to utilize the big ice surface better than Canada. We succeeded," Finland coach Erkka Westerlund said.
"We were trying to keep them to the outside," Florida center Olli Jokinen said.
And keeping them to the outside helped Finland handle Canada's height advantages.
"They have a lot of big guys and they're not used to the big rink," forward Niko Kapanen said.
But while the ice surface has been working in favor of the European teams, a trend is emerging among European-born players who have spent time playing on the 85-foot wide North American rinks -- they've grown to dislike the 100-foot ice surface.
"I don't like the ice surface," Jokinen said. "It'stoo big and there's not enough hitting."
Even Teemu Selanne, who leads the tournament with eight points, said he prefers the North American rinks. The reason being: "In the NHL, when you beat somebody one-on-one, you get a scoring chance."
The larger ice surface is more tactical and lends itself to more puck possession, which requires better positional play, puck support and skating. If you're not used to that or taking the right angle to get to the net, you can spend all game skating on a
treadmill.
Inside the Numbers:
Some stats from Torino:
Top Point-Getters
Teemu Selanne leads all scorers after four preliminary-round games with six goals and eight points. Three others are tied with seven points: Slovakia's Marian Hossa (4 goals), Finland's Jere Lehtinen (3 goals) and Saku Koivu (6 assists).
Team Stats
Slovakia is the most efficient team in terms of shooting and scoring. The Slovaks convert 13.76 percent of their shots (15 goals on 109 shots). Russia is close behind at 12.50 percent.
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Through four games, Finland's Teemue Selanne is the tournament's leading scorer.
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Canada has taken more shots than any other team in the tournament with 163 and is ninth in efficiency at 7.36 percent. Team USA is sitting second-last in 11th place with nine goals on 133 shots for a meager 6.77 success rate.
Power Plays
Finland has the best power play in the tournament, humming along at 37.5 percent. They've scored nine goals on 24 chances and have spent 37:45 minutes with an extra man. Sweden is a distant second with a 23.08 success rate and six PPG's in 26 chances. Team USA, surprisingly is third overall at 18.18 percent and four goals in 22 chances.
The team with the most power play time: Russia. They've spent nearly a full game -- 53:09 -- on the power play.
Penalty Killing
Sweden boasts the best penalty-killing unit, holding opponents scoreless at a whopping 94.12 percent. Russia is second at 92.31 and Canada third at 91.30. Team USA is 10th at 81.82 percent.
The team that can't stay out of the box: Czech Republic. The Czechs have felt shame for 65:45 -- more than an entire game. Their penalty killers are ninth overall with an 84.21 protection rate.
Best Goaltending/Defense
Finland is getting the best goaltending or playing the best defense, depending on how you want to look at it. They have surrendered just two goals in four games for a 0.50 GAA and 98.06 save percentage.
Team Canada is fifth at 1.76 and a 91.25 save percentage while the Americans are sixth at 2.01 and a 90.48 save percentage.
Attendance
No team packs 'em in like the hosts Italy. The locals showed their support to an average of 8,508 spectators per game. The venues here are both under 10,000 with the Esposizioni under 5,000, so that's a pretty healthy number for the "Azzurri".
The best-drawing team not in Italy's group: the Czechs. They've averaged 6,836 fans per game.
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