Are All Hockey Rinks The Same Size

The water ice surface hockey players skate on has changed quite a flake throughout the years.

Just are all hockey rinks the same size now?

No. Not all hockey rinks are the same size. At that place are two different hockey rink sizes; N American and International. North American hockey rinks are 200 ft by 85 ft (60.96 m × 25.ix one thousand) while International hockey rinks are 197 ft by 98.5 ft (60.0 grand × 30 m). Both feature a corner radius of 28 ft (eight.5 meters).

Yet, this may non be the case for long.

Due north American hockey rink size
- History of North American rink sizes
International hockey rink size
Frequently Asked Questions
- Are NHL rinks standard size?
- Is KHL ice bigger than NHL?
- Are College and NHL rinks the same size?
Last thoughts
- Was this postal service helpful?

N American hockey rink size

200 ft past 85 ft (lx.96 k × 25.ix 1000)

Well-nigh professional leagues in North America follow the regulations set up out by the National Hockey League, when it comes to rink size it is no dissimilar.

Most of the major hockey leagues in North America; College, AHL, NHL, ECHL and junior hockey, utilise uniformed sized hockey rinks to play on.

The smaller rink size found beyond Due north America leads to a more heady and fast-paced game compared to that of international play.

Throughout youth hockey in North America, rink sizes will vary. If the loonshit wasn't built in the terminal 10-20 years or gone under any recent remodeling, chances are information technology is different from the ice surface used at high levels of play.

This is because those local customs arenas were congenital years ago, when the standard size of a rink was different from it is today. It's non uncommon for local arenas to be 175 ft 10 65 ft or 185 ft x 75 ft.

History of North American rink sizes

North American Hockey rinks at the professional level have not e'er been this size. In fact, over the years, they accept actually increased in size.

In 1929, the NHL standardized the 200 ft ten 85 ft rink. Over the years in Northward America, when new venues for ice hockey games were built, they would be built to those specifications.

Before this, most were 200 ft x fourscore ft, even so not all rinks were the aforementioned size, some were fifty-fifty smaller.

Arena	Rink size (feet)
Ottawa Auditorium	200 10 80
Toronto Mutual Street Arena	200 x 80
Hamilton Barton Street Loonshit	200 x eighty
Montreal Forum	200 x eighty
Boston Loonshit	200 x 80
Boston Garden	191 x 83
Madison Foursquare Garden	186 x 86
Detroit's Olympia Stadium	200 ten 83
Buffalo Memorial Auditorium	196 x 85
San Jose Cow Palace	185 x 85

And then as you can see, there were quite a few different sized rinks throughout the NHL over the years.

Despite the NHL mandating all rinks be the same size all the way back in 1929, older rinks were grandfathered in.

In fact, it was not until 1996 when the Buffalo Sabres moved out of the Auditorium that all ice surfaces in the NHL became compatible.

International hockey rink size

197 ft by 98.v ft (60.0 m × 30 grand)

Currently, most International hockey rinks are larger than North American rinks.

This is because most European leagues follow the rule book and standards issued by the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) which are used across multiple international ice hockey tournaments like the Olympics and the World juniors.

However, international hockey water ice surfaces seem to exist inching closer to being inline with that of North American rinks

For instance, in 2019 the KHL made the decision to motion to a smaller water ice surface. They mandated that all KHL rinks exist one of two acceptable dimensions:

197 ft by 92 ft (sixty m x 28 thousand)
197 ft by 85 ft (60 g ten 26 one thousand)

The reason behind this switch is simple. The International Ice Hockey Federation plans on shrinking the size of the ice at their upcoming competitions, including:

World Junior Ice Hockey Championships
IIHF Earth Title
Olympics

Seeing as well-nigh international leagues follow the leader when it comes to the IIHF, it only makes sense nosotros will be seeing more and more international leagues autumn in line with a small-scale rink size.

Frequently Asked Questions

Hither are some of the well-nigh ofttimes asked questions almost the size of hockey rinks.

Are NHL rinks standard size?

Yes. All NHL rinks are 200 x 85 feet. This dominion was written in 1929 but did not completely come up into issue until 1996 when the Buffalo Sabres moved to what is now known as the KeyBank Center.

Is KHL ice bigger than NHL?

Yes. KHL ice is bigger than NHL ice. But not by much, as the KHL has been shrinking the size of its ice.

Currently, KHL teams are immune to play on one of ii different sets of ice rink dimensions, 197 ft by 92 ft or 197 ft past 85 ft. Depending on the KHL loonshit, the water ice can exist nearly the same as the NHL or just 10 feet wider.

Are College and NHL rinks the same size?

No. Non all college rinks are the same size as NHL rinks. Virtually practise fall in line with the 200 ft 10 85 ft standard size set past the NHL, however at that place are outliers.

Team	Arena	Rink size (feet)
Wisconsin Badgers	Kohl Center	200 ten 97
Minnesota Gilded Gophers	3M Arena	200 x 100
UMass Minutemen	Mullins Center	200 x 95
New Hampshire Wildcats	Whittemore Centre	200 x 100
Northeastern Huskies	Matthews Arena	200 x xc

Final thoughts

North American Hockey and International hockey are played on different sized water ice rinks, with North American being smaller and International leagues beingness larger.

However, over the years Due north American rinks accept been getting larger while International rinks get smaller. It seems just a matter of time until there is a compatible hockey rink size beyond all leagues.