U.S. sizes up rink better than Canada

The Americans watched their northern neighbors struggle with the large ice and took steps to adapt quickly.

By DAMIAN CRISTODERO, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published February 17, 2002

WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah -- The U.S. men's hockey team made sure it watched Canada's first game Friday, and what the players saw made them shudder.

Players from the country that invented the game appeared confused by the international game's large ice surface.

"That was a little, "Wow, wake up boys. You can get blitzed on this ice,' " U.S. coach Herb Brooks said.

Fully alerted, the United States, like Canada manned with NHL players who have relatively little experience on international ice, was better able to use it to its advantage and seemed more aware of the perils.

"With the bigger ice, you have to be careful," U.S. defenseman Brian Leetch said. "There's a lot of room for cross-ice passes. You want to stay in motion and have guys coming with speed. You also want to not lose guys going behind you."

At 200 feet, international ice is the same length as NHL ice, but at 100 feet is 15 feet wider. There are no restrictions on two-line passes over the red line.

The extra space puts a premium on skating and creativity. Defenses also must be aware of opponents hanging at their blue lines waiting for long "home run" passes.

Two such passes led to goals against Canada in the 5-2 loss to Sweden at the E Center while Canada seemed content to use the NHL's dump-and-chase techniques.

"For us, every time you put your head up and see a guy on the other side of the red line, your instinct is not to pass," Canada's Brendan Shanahan said. "By the time it registers to pass, it's too late."

And by the time Canada's defense realized players were behind it -- Chris Pronger and Rob Blake were the worst offenders -- it was too late as well.

The United States acclimated quickly.

Defenseman Tom Poti hit Keith Tkachuk blue line to blue line in the second period of Friday's 6-0 victory over Finland. Goaltender Jani Hurme stopped Tkachuk's shot, but at least the opportunity was taken.

On the return sequence, Finland and Tampa Bay forward Juha Ylonen took a two-line pass only to be met at the blue line by defensemen Chris Chelios and Gary Suter.

"We're trying to find a comfort zone," Brooks said. "But the thing we stress is having a certain consistency. We don't want to go up and down like the temperature outside."

Some rules, such as keeping the opposition wide to force long shots, transcend ice size. Finland failed to do that with John LeClair, whose three goals were scored from closer than 10 feet from the net.

"That's why you're on the team, because you can skate and make plays, but we still try to funnel everything in front of the net," Leetch said.

The good news for Canada is the three-game, round-robin format is only for seeding purposes. The single-elimination playoff round begins with Wednesday's quarterfinals.

"Obviously, we didn't play the way we wanted to," said Canada's Mario Lemieux, who might not play against Germany today because his surgically repaired right hip is sore.

"But that's the beauty of the Olympics. We have plenty of time to get it together."

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