I keep hearing a lot of the Pittsburgh sports media complain about the shootout rule in the NHL. This is from mostly old men who have been working too long, or young punks who are trying to make a name for themselves on the local airwaves. They say its an Olympic thing and it should stay there. I guess they would like to watch 60 minutes of grueling, fast-paced hockey end in a boring tie where each team settles for a point in the standings. I saw too much of that when I shared season tickets a good many years ago and I was always a supporter of the shootout before it ever came into being. Tonights game was a classic example of why the shootout is a great thing for the NHL. Regulation play ends in a 2-2 tie. Pens and Ducks head to a five-minute sudden death overtime, which is the way it was before the shootout. Many times the extra five minutes was a waltz between two teams that didnt want to give up that extra point in the standings. But now they work harder in those five minutes and fly up and down the ice. If no one scores, the fans dont go home unsatisfied. They see a shootout that goes at least three shooters each on most occasions. In this game, the teams went six sessions with 12 different shooters before it was over and the Pens came out on top. Maybe Im in the minority, but Im riveted to every shot and Id rather see an ending like this any time over a yawning tie. That being said, I do agree that once the regular season ends, the playoffs do the right thing by playing full sudden death periods. You play to a tie, you take an intermission and you hit the ice for another 20 minutes and so on, until one team scores. When it comes to the playoffs, thats how it should be. To me, the NHL does this thing right and I hope the league doesnt listen to media people who cant even tie a hockey skate.
Posted on: Sat, 08 Mar 2014 06:14:19 +0000
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