MILAN (AP) — The hockey arenas at the Milan Cortina Olympics had a new look as the knockout round of the men’s tournament got underway Tuesday.
The boards encasing the rinks are now light blue and green after the NHL and the NHL Players’ Association made the case to the International Olympic Committee to make a change from the dark color during the preliminary round so it’s easier to see the puck.
U.S. goaltender Jeremy Swayman lost sight of the puck in the boards and the stands during his one round-robin game in net against Denmark. Swayman joked he was colorblind, so it didn’t matter to him.
“Thank God because I’m colorblind, too,” Germany goalie Philipp Grubauer said after beating France in the quarterfinals. “I feel for Swayman there because I had a hard time, too, with the dark blue and the print on the puck, too. It wasn’t that easy sometimes, so it’s a good change by the IOC.”
Swayman allowing a goal from long distance made the boards a hot topic of conversation, but the ask to change them came long before. Players talked to the league and union about the boards after each team’s first practice in Milan.
“I know there was discussion,” U.S. coach Mike Sullivan said. “There was discussion about that. Obviously, the dark boards, sometimes it’s hard for the goalies to pick up the puck coming off that.”
France goalie Antoine Keller didn’t see any difference and said, “It didn’t change anything.” Similarly, Czechia’s Lukas Dostal did not notice, but he approves of the switch.
“In Anaheim, we have really dark seats,” Dostal said. “Some of the NHL rinks, they have dark seats, so the background sometimes — I don’t want to say you lose the puck, but you’ve got to stay focused a little more. Obviously it’s just better for us, for the goalies.”
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