Originally published at: An argument for making NHL hockey nets bigger | Boing Boing
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Putting less padding on goalies isn’t very easy, because they are, after all, having pucks shot towards them at ferocious speeds
That is, in fact, exactly what the NHL did in the 2005/2006 season. The motivation was primarily to increase scores. Those of us who grew up on ‘80s hockey know that it was often tiresome to watch a three hour game that ends in a 1-0 score. The prevailing theory on that is that the art and science of goaltending advanced much faster than offensive skills, and the goalies are just too damned good now, basically. So they shrunk the pads to make the job harder, and high single-digit scores are now common. There were other rule changes as well, but the pad size was the big one. It was definitely (in my opinion) a net win (pardon the pun). It’s much more fun to score a few points every period than to watch the offense beating their heads against a brick wall for hour after hour. And I say this as someone who only watches hockey for the goaltending and roots for both goalies over either team. 
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We go net-less, all the cool kids are doing it.
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Making the rink size larger than NHL-standard for the Olympics makes a big difference in play, so it makes sense that this change would as well. Players in general, not only goalies, are larger now than they were when the NHL got started.
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It seems a little nonsensical to me that this argument just dismisses “make pucks lighter and safer” out of hand.
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Hockey player here - both goal and forward. Though I hesitate to disagree with a hall-of-famer like Dryden - the facts are that technique and materials technology have come a long way since when he played.
Stick technology means even a shrimpy shooter can rip the puck -and more importantly - accurately. Even plonkers like me can pick corners with very little shot prep. As the technology improves -so does shooter technique. Evolutions like ‘lacrosse shots’ are on the rise which create new threats to ‘blocker-style’ goalies. Hell - even I can do one - just not at full speed in a game.
Goal pads are now in the 4lb range - which allows for quicker response. Smaller goal gear means less coverage but way more mobility. A big goalie can not only cover the angles better but is far more mobile on their feet. The pads may be smaller but they are more protective - with use of new materials like D3 gel (anti-neutonian properties).
So - a long-winded way of saying we don’t need smaller nets as shooters are better than ever, there are plenty of ways to beat even a big goalie, and modern goalies have their own tricks, techniques and tech to even the odds.
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Speak for yourself, I grew up in Edmonton 
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Yes - some research into other materials might be useful. The rubber compound used is extremely dense - but behaves very consistently in a given temperature range. When a puck gets too warm - it gets very difficult to manage hard passes. Practice pucks are less dense but comically difficult to control at full speed. Maybe that’s on the player to adjust?
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Hah! I almost literally included an additional argument that only the mega-superstars could score, which created all sorts of other issues for strategy and player careers. I was going to cite Gretzky as the example. 
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they consider the larger field but decided that the chokepoint is the net. there was a passage in the article to the effect of a hockey rink the size of a soccer pitch would still not make up for the coverage at the goal.
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I predict that the teams should hire taller and wider goalies so that the opposing teams find it harder to score. Perhaps eventually genetically engineering them to be the exact size and shape of the goal.
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Lots of things about that era were different.
Look around: no longer do we have the Cliff Ronnings, Theo Fleurys, Mike Vernons and Andy Moogs. All the players are being chosen for size and hitting ability.
Frankly, I never cared about a 1-0 game, so long as there were great plays. Watching someone dodge in and out of a corner or a crowd before anyone even knew they were there was just as much fun (if not more) as a shot poked in from under a scrum of bodies. A fast, low-scoring game is more fun to watch than a slow one with a ton of goals.
Soccer matches quite often end nil-nil or 1-1, and it’s considered normal and sometimes even exciting, but we’re complaining if after 60 minutes of play hockey doesn’t have 7-5 scores.
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Sorry to disagree - but what you say really only applies to goalies where the average height is over 6’2". Today’s game is different than 10-15 years ago. For every Chara there are several DeBrinkats and Gaudreaus with the trend moving to skill and especially speed.
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Or Darren Pang, who Larry Robinson supposedly saw warming up before his (Pang’s) first NHL game and skated up to Doug Wilson to ask, “Where’s the rest of your goalie?” Though to be fair, the guys you mention all had much longer and more successful playing careers than Pang did…
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Reading this, I couldn’t help but think of the time Wayne Gretzky hosted SNL shortly after he was traded to the Kings and they did a sketch in which celebrities new to hockey tried to console him after a playoff loss. Partway through the sketch, both John Travolta and Jack Nicholson suggest they could improve their defense by having the goaltender stand behind a board that covers the entire net.
Thirty years later, it’s not nearly as funny as I remember…
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But if you make the nets bigger won’t pucks just sail right right on though the bigger gaps?
This debate reminded me of the professional baseball player who was told that, in a bid to reduce homeruns & thus favor their speed advantages, his home stadium was raising their outfield fence. He shook his head & asked, “Won’t balls just roll under it then?”
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Obligatory
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Canadian media, especially comedians, made a lot of hay when the expansion teams started in warm states. I especially remember the San Jose Sharks. A local news guy did a good-hearted takedown of the fans who clearly didn’t know the basic rules of the game and were cheering/booIng the wrong moments. Also plenty of fun made of how these places had to cool the ice and air condition the stadium to keep it frozen.
It was all fun and games until those cities took all our teams away with their millions of dollars. 
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Yah, I find soccer super boring too. To each their own. I like the 7-5 scores and all the new rules. A couple points per period feels about right to me. The only downside I’ve seen is we do now occasionally have “the basketball problem” whereby in a poorly matched game, the better team can run up the score pretty badly and it gets silly. You get the occasional 20-0 score now which never could have happened before. Like 4-0 was a total blowout but that still “felt” close.
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I will begrudgingly watch an entire soccer match.
When I moved to Australia, someone tried to explain cricket to me. When they got to the bit where matches can last for five days and end in a draw I said “Thanks, that’s all I need to know.”
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