"It slows the game down too much," Miller said. "Women's hockey at the college level needs to be played on a smaller surface to showcase the great game we have."

The Olympic ice is wider and longer with demensions of 200-by-100. Non-Olympic rinks vary in size but, like Duluth's, most are about 190-by-85.

With the rink 10 feet longer, it takes that much extra time for play to move from one end of the ice to another, but adding 15 feet across makes an even bigger difference. It opens up the ice and puts everything into slow motion.

A cross-ice pass takes longer. A breakout doesn't form as quickly. Two players rushing to a puck in the corner seem to take a while to get there.

It changes everything, and it may have helped certain teams more than others.

Following Harvard's semifinal match, Stone commented on the team's defensive play, pointing out that the bigger sheet of ice made coverage inside the blueline harder.

On the Bulldog's fourth goal, four Crimson defenders were caught in the corners when Duluth's Sanna Peura emerged with the puck, stepped out and fired a cross ice pass to sophomore Hanne Sikio.