Speaking with a number of NHLers, many of whom had experienced playing overseas, the wider rink might result in exactly the opposite outcome. "It would change the whole game," Flyers center Claude Giroux says. "I played in Germany and on the big ice, and it's just a different game. It's not quick. It's more control the puck and control the game. It slows the game down. When it's tight ice, you have to move quick, make a play quick. You don't have two seconds before someone's on you."

Theoretically, more surface area would suggest more time and space, the two things that hockey players and coaches talk about with bated breath, like treasures they've sought their whole lives. But time and space are that important because they are in limited supply on the narrower ice.

On the wider sheet, the game is much more passive. It's waiting and surveying. Like soccer, scoring chances require more time and more collective effort. "On the smaller ice, if you get a half a step on a guy, you're now in a scoring position," Cammalleri says. "Whereas, on the Olympic ice, if you get a step on a guy, he still has room to catch you before you get to the net. He can get an angle on you before you get to a scoring position."
It seems small, but in this game of inches, that's all it really takes.