The 2026 Olympic hockey tournament in Milan will be played on an unusual ice sheet.
"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. "I don't understand how that happened."
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."
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.
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.
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.
"There is no Plan B," Andrea Francisi, the chief operations officer for the Milan Cortina Winter Games, told The Associated Press on Saturday.
The women's tournament begins Feb. 5, while the men's competition commences Feb. 11.
