Last Updated on January 27, 2022 by
We have been able to establish the fact that in hockey, there are two major standards for ice hockey rink dimension, and size. The North American Rink size is one of these standards used in the NHL. The second one is the European Rink size which most people refer to as the international rink size. We are going to talk about dimensions, sizes, and rinks in this article as we go further.
Hockey Rink Size
For the NHL, the standard measurement for a rink ice surface should be 200 feet in length and then the width should be around 85 feet. The international rink ice surface is as long as 197 feet and then as wide as 98.4 feet. When comparing the two major rinks that we have, it has been observed that the international hockey rink is close to the height that the NHL Rink has, although it is said to be wider than it.
Putting hockey players on bigger ice would change the game for them. They would have to train to play in a more spacious environment than the one they have been playing in all this while. This style of play would have to concur with more space and more time improvement. You would also notice some things while the players are playing on this kind of ice, you would notice that they won’t move as fast as they used to. Also, the shooter from his angle might not be accurate.
NHL Hockey Rink
Inside the hockey rink, the red line in the middle follows two blue lines on each side of the rink. Both blue lines are placed 25 feet away from the red line and so both blue lines are 50 feet apart from each other.
One line passes behind the blue line, both lines on both sides are before the blue lines on both sides. The distance of that line from the blue line is 50 feet.
International Hockey Rink
The international hockey rink is just like that of the NHL hockey rink. The only thing is the difference in size. Just like we have said before, we have 98.4 feet in width and then 197feet in length.
Some Of The Popular Hockey Rinks
Montreal Forum
One of the popular rinks in hockey is the Montreal forum which has given Canada their 22 titles since they played in this particular rink. In all the NHL title games that Canada played in this rink, they won all those titles. This is one of the reasons why this place is so popular. The Hockey team in Canada worships this rink. This is where they play their home games too because the rink happens to be in Canada.
There are some great Hockey players that have played in this particular rink over time. For instance, we have someone like Rocket Richard, Guy Lafleur, and Ken. These three great hockey players played most of their games in this rink and they had some of their best play here too.
Maple Leaf Garden
Also located in Canada, this arena here is located in Toronto. The team known as the Toronto Maple leaf played most of their home games here and they played there for more than 50 years. From 1931 to 1999, the team had this arena as their home game rink. Aside from this, another thing that made this place so popular was the Hockey Night In Canada Games, they aired from this arena a lot of times. Although they did air from a lot of other arenas, this arena was used most of the time. It was used more than any other arena.
The Boston Garden
This is another popular hockey rink. This is where the Bruins played their home games for so many years. Starting from 1928 to 1995. Although it was a little smaller in length, the place had a very nice arena for fans who came to watch the games. Bobby Orr and Phil Esposito played some of their games in this rink. Phil Esposito is the first owner of the Florida Panthers.
Goal Dimensions In Hockey
By the rules set by NHL, the goal on the hockey rink should be 6 feet wide and then four feet in length. This means that it shouldn’t be as high as any human being. The goal isn’t supposed to be too wide too. The net on the goal goes back from the front and it goes back for about 40 inches.
Hockey Board Dimensions
The wall or the board that is placed around the rink should be around forty to 48 inches tall, it just depends on the arena being used.
The Size Of A Hockey Puck
The puck is what you play in hockey, just like the ball in soccer or the ball in basketball, the puck is just like a disk-shaped rubber-like ball. Its thickness is around 1 inch, its diameter is 3 meters, and it weighs like 6 ounces.
FAQs
How To Make An Iced Rink Stay Iced?
The process of making the ice in an ice rink involves cold concrete. This is the major substance used to make the ice in the rink. The concrete slab under the ice has metals shoved into it. After this process, they use a refrigeration plant used to freeze glycol and put them in the slab. This is what makes the hockey rink drop temperature below the normal freezing level.
Outdoor Rinks Are What Size?
The outdoor rinks are of any size, whatever size you want them to be. The thing is that it cannot be smaller than the indoor hockey rinks that we have. It is most times bigger because the hockey rinks outdoors are built based on the space that is available for them. We couldn’t say any particular size, but the rinks outdoors are very big and with a lot of space too.
Wrapping Up
There are a lot of things we don’t know about hockey, the rink size has just been exposed to you today.
