Hockey That’s Up to Speed

After watching the 2-2 tie between the United States and Russia on Saturday night, it’s easy to understand the NHL’s reluctance to commit its players to future Winter Olympic ice hockey tournaments.

It has a little to do with the interruption required in the NHL’s season during February, the compacted schedule before and after the Olympics to make up for lost time and the controversy--such as the one involving the Kings, Ziggy Palffy and Slovakia--over which players will be available to teams having to play in the qualifying round.

It has a lot to do with the style of play in the Olympics.

It is better.

Much, much better.

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These are some of the notes I took about Saturday night’s game. More speed. Faster pace. No fighting. Better flow. More creativity. More flair. This is what it’s like to see Sergei Fedorov really play. More offensive. More exciting. More fun. No fighting. Higher intensity. Players appear to want to be here. The Great Gretzky would have been Greater if he had played in more Olympics. More fun. Less jostling. Beautiful puck control. Fewer stoppages. Fuller use of the ice. I can’t wait to see Jaromir Jagr play. No fighting.

No wonder the NHL has so many misgivings. Its game, at least during the regular season, is slow, dull and lifeless in comparison. How can you go back to Calgary-Carolina when you’ve seen the U.S.-Russia?

There are a number of things the NHL could do to improve its game.

Enlarge its rinks. The Olympic ice sheet, conforming to the international standard, is 15 feet wider than in the NHL. Coaches such as Herb Brooks of the United States and Viacheslav Fetisov of Russia are more willing to open up their offenses, avoiding the dreaded neutral-zone trap and allowing their players to take advantage of their skills and to be more innovative in their playmaking. Dump and chase is foreign at the highest levels of the foreign game. You can actually see plays requiring three and four passes developing.

Reason the NHL won’t: Money. Some North American arenas are built to accommodate the larger ice, but not all. One that isn’t is Staples Center. Installing the international ice sheet would require eliminating the first three or four rows of very expensive seats.

Schedule fewer games. It’s phenomenal how good these players are when they are rested, energetic and committed. It’s not that they aren’t committed during the NHL season, but 82 games--not including exhibition and playoff games--take a toll on the body and the mind. Sometimes the spirit is willing, but that’s all.

Reason the NHL won’t: Money. Without a lucrative television contract, the NHL depends more than other professional leagues on attendance. The more games there are, the more fans there are in the seats.

Contract. There are eight teams remaining in the Olympic tournament. Most of the world’s best players are still involved. It’s like the old NHL with the original six teams. Now that was some good hockey. Most of the world’s best players also play in the NHL, but they are spread out today over 30 teams. Players are in the NHL who obviously don’t belong.

Reason the NHL won’t: Money. The league expanded to 30 teams to cover more of the continent, including the U.S. South, Southwest and West, where children don’t exactly grow up skating on frozen ponds. But sports fans spend money in those places too, so why not try to get into their pockets? Owners also aren’t allergic to the multi-million dollar expansion fees demanded of new teams.

Change rules. There are some rules in the Olympics that the NHL should adopt. Take icing, for example. In the NHL, the whistle doesn’t blow to stop play until the puck is touched after it has been iced. In the Olympics, play stops as soon as the puck crosses the goal line. Also, the referee doesn’t allow jostling, elbowing and maneuvering for position before faceoffs. He drops the puck and the game is on. The most welcome rule change would be the elimination of fighting. Players who do it in the Olympics are ejected. Period. As a result, there is no need for teams to employ goons.

Reason the NHL won’t: Money. It might make some alterations, but don’t look for the league to eliminate, or even actually discourage, fighting. Most league and team officials are convinced that the Neanderthal portion of their fan base would stop attending games if there were no fighting. But isn’t it possible that the game without fighting would attract a new fan base?

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It’s probably too much to ask for the NHL to reform.

So I guess we should just enjoy this tournament every four years.

It’s a penalty-killing Jeremy Roenick protecting the puck like it’s his first-born child. It’s Fedorov playing like we weren’t sure he still could. It’s Scott Young taking a two-line pass (would the NHL crumble if it allowed two-line passes?) behind Russian defenders and just missing a breakaway goal. It’s Atlanta Thrasher rookie-of-the-year candidate Ilya Kovalchuk proving that Russia is still producing the world’s more creative young players. It’s Brett Hull having room in front of the goal to display his beautiful goal-scoring skill. It’s a 20-minute period taking 26 minutes to play instead of the standard 38 to 40 minutes in the TV timeout-diluted NHL. It’s ice hockey at its best.

The only thing I didn’t like about Saturday night’s game was that there was no overtime. That doesn’t start until the medal round. I wanted to see more.

It was the best hockey game I’ve seen since, well, four years ago at the last Winter Olympics.

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Randy Harvey can be reached at randy.harvey@latimes.com.