If you have been in the NHL for a long enough period of time, you have seen everything. Bad ice, delays of all kinds, fights that become especially brutal. For veteran goaltender of the Vancouver Canucks Ryan Miller, he is upset about one thing only after their game against the Chicago Blackhawks.
The damn ice.
As you would expect, Miller didn’t mince his words when talking about the United Center ice.
“That was the first flat puck all night. This ice is the worst ice I’ve ever seen in my career. It was terrible and they’ve got to do something about it. Even when we tried to handle pucks and make some plays, there were times when we should have went up the wall because it was the safest option.”
That is one heck of a statement to make considering how long he has played in the league. It also seems to be a consistent problem for the NHL. While only anecdotal, complaints about ice have only continued to go up. If someone like this is going to make a complaint as stark as this, the league needs to make some changes.
The condensed schedule due to the World Cup of Hockey can’t help. Given the goal scoring problem in the league, the question becomes whether or not this is actually a problem. The league wants and needs more scoring but there has to be a better way than this, right?
Either way, it’ll be a problem that needs to be monitored in the months ahead. Any and all standardization has seemingly gone out the window. Miller will be one of the first people to welcome some good news about the ice.
