4 replies to this topic

[Fred not Lynn]

In baseball and other sports, the field of play is often scaled in size for younger players. In baseball, for instance most 12 and under play occurs on a diamond with 60' basepaths - which is 66% of a full adult diamond.

What would the usefulness of a scaled hockey rink - say 70% of the full 85' x 200' (28' corner radius), which would be 59.5' x 140' with 20' radius - be for players 12 and under (pee wee on down). Do you think this would be a fun and useful way to scale the game to the skating and shooting/passing speed of the young players?

Assume the boards would stay at 42", so the rink can also accomodate 4 on 4, or 3 on 3 play for older players too.

What about using a scaled goal for the pee wee and under groups as well?

I'm not saying ALL their play and practice should be on this size rink - I like making them have to skate on a bigger rink, too...but do you think such a rink would be a useful facility?

[behindthepen]

great question.
My kids teams have practiced at the Holland Arena in Woburn, which is 115'x55'. Length-wise, I think it's too short for a regular facility. For kids 3x3 it's perfect, but too small for adult 3x3 I think.

The good news is for practices, kids will be more likely to get a lot more touches and reps on a smaller rink, but it does limit how many kids you can have on the ice.

Incidentally, that rink used to be a backyard rink, and then the guy installed stuff to freeze the ice, and then put a roof on it. I think once he won a backyard rink competition.

[Fred not Lynn]

The good news is for practices, kids will be more likely to get a lot more touches and reps on a smaller rink, but it does limit how many kids you can have on the ice.

I'd think you could still practice a full team of pee-wees on that ice - but not two teams 1/2 each as is often done. I'd still try to get kids practicing on the full ice too...especially when it comes to working on skating.

[leftfieldlegacy]

I think it would be good to have a smaller rink for the little guys, but I would probably use squirts (9-10 y/o) as the oldest players-at least for games. My concern is that having 11-12 y/o pee wees throwing body checks in a smaller area could be a problem. With the 11-12s, I think the smaller area might favor the slower, less skilled player who would have much less ice to cover before finding someone to hit and there might not be enough open ice to consistently allow the faster skaters to maneuver around these checks.

I like the idea of a scaled goal. Not so much the width of the goal but the height. We have all seen small goalies who could stand straight up and shrug their shoulders and still not cover the top of the net.

[behindthepen]

I think it would be good to have a smaller rink for the little guys, but I would probably use squirts (9-10 y/o) as the oldest players-at least for games. My concern is that having 11-12 y/o pee wees throwing body checks in a smaller area could be a problem. With the 11-12s, I think the smaller area might favor the slower, less skilled player who would have much less ice to cover before finding someone to hit and there might not be enough open ice to consistently allow the faster skaters to maneuver around these checks.

I like the idea of a scaled goal. Not so much the width of the goal but the height. We have all seen small goalies who could stand straight up and shrug their shoulders and still not cover the top of the net.

like I said, I had peewee's on a sheet that big.

it's fine for 3x3 for peewees, maybe even 4x4, but not more. One problem is that you really can't play with offsides, or else you can't use speed at all. Even for the little guys a few strides move you from red line to red line.