The 2026 Olympic hockey tournament in Milan will be played on an unusual ice sheet.<\/p>\n
“The ice surface, it looks like it’s going to be smaller than NHL rink standard by probably 3 or 4 feet,” Peter DeBoer, an assistant on Canada’s men’s team, told Sportsnet’s “Real Kyper and Bourne” show<\/a>. “I don’t understand how that happened.”<\/p>\n DeBoer added, “I don’t believe it’s a huge difference. But I believe there is a difference, and it’s on the smaller, not the bigger side.”<\/p>\n The IIHF has approved an ice sheet in Milan that measures at 196.85 feet by 85.3 feet, a source told The Athletic’s Chris Johnston and Michael Russo<\/a>.<\/p>\n NHL ice sheets measure 200 by 85 feet. The 2010 and 2022 Olympics used NHL-sized rinks, while the larger IIHF surface – 60 by 30 meters, or 197 by 98.5 feet – was utilized in other years.<\/p>\n The 16,000-seat venue on the outskirts of Milan is still under construction. Test events at the arena were rescheduled to Jan. 9-11.<\/p>\n