This 3v3 Mini Rink In Russia Needs To Be How Beer League Hockey Is Played All Across The Globe
I'm not a drug guy myself so I'd have to double check with my local fiend, but I feel like everyone can agree that 3v3 overtime in the NHL is the hockey equivalent to crack cocaine. That shit is as exhilarating as it gets, but that high is often over too soon. It always makes you feel like you want more of it.
The only issue with 3v3 overtime is that you can't ask the players to go more than 5 minutes. They'd die. That's so much ice to cover. By the time those 5 minutes are up, those guys barely have legs anymore. And they're the best hockey players in the world.
But there's nothing worse than someone presenting a problem without offering a solution. And apparently the KHL came up with the solution to 3v3 hockey by putting it on a smaller sheet of ice.
It's constant action. You can take one or two strides and you've already made it down the entire length of the ice. There's barely any defense being played. And you can play an entire game with just 8 or 9 guys showing up to play.
Am I crazy or is this literally how every single beer league game should be played for the rest of time? The worst part about beer league is the anxiety to washes over you in the locker room before the game when you look around and see only 7 guys showed up. You know your legs and lungs are going to be an inferno all night having to cover all that ice with just 2 guys on the bench. You weren't planning on playing any defense anyway that night, but now you're really not even going to attempt to backcheck.
But 3v3 on a mini sheet of ice? Now we're talking. Now showing up with just 7 guys is actually preferred. Now you can just glide around out there and still be in a good spot to not completely hang your goalie out to dry.
I'll be honest--this version of the game looks a little ridiculous for the best players in the world. That rink is bordering on being comically too small. But for a bunch of beer leaguers who don't have that extra gear on the engine anymore and just want to buzz around for 45 minutes? It's perfection.
P.S. -- Of course Matvei Michkov was the best player on the ice during the KHL 3x3 Festival. Would you expect anything different from the Magician?