Fischler on Tonelli Becoming an Islander "Home Ice Advantage" Once upon a time, those three little words carried an aura of significance; mostly during the Original Six Era that extended from 1942 through 1967. Believe it or not, there was a logical reason for favoring the home team on any given night in those bygone, pre-expansion days, and it all was because of arena architecture. By rights, all ice surfaces were supposed to be 200 feet long and 86 feet wide. But when the National Hockey League's first grand arena, Madison Square Garden, was opened in 1925, it was primarily designed for boxing on orders from MSG maestro Tex Rickard. Hockey was an afterthought and, as a result, architects provided for an ice surface only 186 feet long. The same builders worked on Boston Garden, and when the Bruins took the ice in 1928 at their home -- originally called Boston Madison Square Garden -- the rink dimensions also were an extraordinarily tight 191 by 83. "The smaller rinks meant less room to maneuver, and that meant more hitting," said the original Rangers historian Stan Saplin in 1946 when he published a history of the Blueshirts. "That explains why American teams wanted tougher players on their rosters." READ MORE: How Does Islanders’ Goaltending Tandem Really Stack Up? [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-islanders/features/new-york-islanders-ilya-sorokin-semyon-varlamov-goaltending-tandems-2023-24] When Detroit's Olympia Stadium opened in 1927, the rink looked a bit cockeyed to some critics, including Red Wings historian and press agent Fred Huber, Jr.: "The four ends of Olympia's rink had a billiard-type configuration," Huber explained, "and that enabled some of our players like the Production Line (Gordie Howe, Sid Abel, Ted Lindsay) to make plays off the corners that the opposition didn't really know. It gave our guys a real advantage." A similar situation took place at Chicago Stadium, where the dimensions were 188 by 85. Meanwhile, Toronto's Maple Leaf Gardens and Montreal's Forum each featured the standard 200 by 85 dimensions. "The fifteen extra feet in Toronto and Montreal, lengthwise, gave teams with faster skaters an advantage," said the original NHL P.R. director Ken McKenzie. "The Canadiens speed merchant Howie Morenz was able to exploit the longer rinks in Canada." Nowadays, home ice is less advantageous. Virtually every rink -- forget about the Coyotes' temporary home -- is 200 by 85 with no Olympia-Stadium-like "billiard corners." In contemporary hockey, home ice still can be a plus because of different factors, especially the crowd and decibel counts produced by fans."The noise at the Nassau Coliseum was intense," said captain Anders Lee, "and we always got a boost in that regard." That explains why the New York Islanders [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-islanders/features/new-york-islanders-ilya-sorokin-semyon-varlamov-goaltending-tandems-2023-24]' high command went out of its way to insist that the UBS ceiling be designed in a manner similar to The Old Barn on Hempstead Turnpike -- crowd-friendly low. And so it has been. But as we all know, one of the big keys to success in any venue, home or away, is goaltending. And if your puck stopper feels confident at home, then home ice advantage is yours to enjoy. And, yes, the Islanders do have home-ice advantage at UBS all because of Ilya Sorokin [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-islanders/features/new-york-islanders-ilya-sorokin-semyon-varlamov-goaltending-tandems-2023-24]. The rapid Russian's record in Elmont last season was 20-10-3. And how about all-time: 33-15-7. Sorokin's counterpart, Semyon Varlamov [https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-islanders/features/new-york-islanders-ilya-sorokin-semyon-varlamov-goaltending-tandems-2023-24], owns a combined 12-14-1 record at UBS over the last two seasons. The Islanders have gone 45-29-19 (,685 P%) since UBS Arena opened its doors for the 2021-22 season. That includes the NHL forcing the Islanders to play during a COVID-19 outbreak, dropping their first seven games in Elmont (0-5-2). Home ice advantage should continue in 2023-24 on the assumption that Ilya will start the majority of games at UBS.
