A peculiar claim hovers around the ice hockey arena of the Milan Winter Olympics.

Canada’s national team assistant coach Pete DeBoer revealed a surprising detail about the Milan rink on Monday.

– In fact, from the ice level, it looks smaller than an NHL rink, probably about three or four feet smaller. I don’t understand how that could have happened, DeBoer said on the Real Kyper & Bourne radio show.

DeBoer’s claim of 3-4 feet translates to about 0.9-1.2 meters.

– I don’t think it’s a huge difference. But I believe there is a difference, and it’s in the direction of being smaller, not larger, DeBoer added.

In the Beijing Olympics, hockey was played in an NHL-sized rink that is 26 meters wide.

The main arena planned for Milan, Santa Giuliana, has been in the headlines lately, as the construction work on the arena is still severely behind schedule. The arena, which is supposed to hold 16,000 spectators, was set to be tested in early December, but due to delays, the event has been pushed to January.

The Olympic ice hockey tournament will take place from February 5 to 25.

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