LAKE PLACID -- Big ice sheet.

What big ice sheet?

Both the Plattsburgh State and Elmira College men's hockey teams appear ready for the task at hand when they tangle tonight at 6 p.m. in the NCAA Division III Tournament Final Four semifinals at spacious Herb Brooks Arena at the Olympic Center.

St. Norbert and Norwich University get the festivities started at 2:30 p.m., with the semifinal winners facing off for the national championship on Sunday afternoon at 4 p.m.

The Final Four teams held press conferences Friday in the Olympic Center Hall of Fame Room.

The dimensions of Brooks Arena were a hot topic.

The Lake Placid ice sheet measures 200 feet by 100 feet. Plattsburgh's rink is 185 by 85 while the other three teams play on sheets 200 feet long, but 85 to 90 feet wide.

"We played on a big ice surface in Middlebury earlier this season and lost a great game, 3-2," said Plattsburgh State head coach Bob Emery.

"We're really confident playing on a big ice sheet. I feel it will benefit us. But, we will still need to move our feet and get the puck forward."

"The bigger ice sheet will help us -- we're a skating team," said Elmira head coach Tim Ceglarski. "We just need to stay focused on the game."

The Cardinals (24-4) and Soaring Eagles (20-3-5) met once during the regular season. Both teams were unbeaten at the time and Elmira emerged with a 3-2 win.

Both Emery and Ceglarski made sure they didn't give their opponent any bulletin board material.

"We're fortunate to play Elmira again," said Emery. "They're a great team and we will need to make some adjustments.

"We will still have to focus on what we do best, playing in the offensive zone and corners. We're a blue-collar team."

"When we played them earlier this season, we struggled for the first 20 minutes," Ceglarski said. "They ran into some penalty problems in the second period and the third period was pretty even.