Who Says Shootouts are Boring?

How can you not Like Shootouts?


Who says shootouts are the wrong way to settle a hockey game? Are you kidding me? Did you see yesterday's game? If this isn’t exciting you might want to check your pulse to see if you’re still alive or you want to see a game go 5 overtimes; boring. Don't tell me about hockey purism, that bunk. Funny thing, the Pundits are already starting to weight in on the USA and Canada Shootout. Thank God college hockey gets back in full swing this weekend. They have had too much time on their hands during the holidays.

Adam Wodon chimes in with his disgust for the Shootout: Wodon Weighs in

It doesn't matter whether it's regular season or the playoffs. The same sick, empty feeling remains the same. Sure, we've become desensitized somewhat to the regular-season shootout in the NHL and minor leagues by this point. And, with greater battles to fight in college hockey, many of us have just chosen to ignore the regular-season shootout for now.

But if it comes to college hockey, watch out. Guns will be blazing. And finally, there's the point. This is being discussed in college hockey. Apparently, there is a directive to discuss ways that ties will be eliminated in college hockey in the future.

If that happens, there will be an outcry like college hockey hasn't heard before.
Even most proponents of shootouts in regular-season college hockey probably agree that deciding today's ultra-important World Junior game with one was wrong. But don't stop there. Let the empty feeling of today's events be a lesson to college hockey administrators everywhere — that, at least for anyone with a soul, the same feeling pervades even if it's during the regular season.
Yes, shootouts stink.

Come on, that couldn't be further from the truth.

First off Adam couldn’t be further from the truth. With current state of the NCAA hockey I doubt there is going to be any out cry if the shootout is put into play. Apparently by 2008-2009 the NCAA is going to put this rule into effect. NCAA Hockey Rules page 10

Back to the shootout; the players in this contest know from the opening faceoff that if the game is tied at the end of regulation and overtime they will settle the game with a shootout, end of story. That is the way it is, get over it move one and go back to your cushy job on College Sports Television. We lost; Toews single handedly dismantled Frazee and made him look silly. I only hope when the Sioux play the Gophers in January that Toews makes Frazee and Briggs look silly.
Back to the argument; there is this line of thought that some how the NHL is not as exciting to watch as college hockey, that is utter non-sense. Have you watched an NHL game as of late Adam? Seriously? Also the WCHA has become horrible and unbearable to watch. There are still teams in college hockey that run the now defunct Neutral Zone Trap. If college hockey played the game with the new rules these teams would be run out of the building and would not flourish under the new rules. I doubt some of these teams could put together a shootout line up that could score.

So if it’s good enough for the NHL its damn sure good enough for college hockey. So that argument is utter bull; the NHL flourishing under the new rules that include the shootout and a crack down on enforcement of the rules as they are written. God forbid that college hockey finally come out of the stone age and join the 21st century. There is no calling the game by the scoreboard in the NHL (a penalty in the first period is a penalty in the third period); this is a prevalent practice in WCHA hockey.

The second flaw in Adam’s logic is some how college hockey is pure and fun to watch and shouldn’t be ruined with a shootout and that there is nothing wrong with a tie. I think all ties should be decided in college just like the NHL, if you lose in O.T. you get a point period seems fair enough to me. If the game is still tied after 5 minutes go to the shootout. I wouldn’t mind being on the edge of my seat in the REA. Lately nothing has brought me out of my seat except another trip to the bathroom or another run to the beer line. The game needs some work.

Donald Chimes in with his view on Shoot out
UAA Hockey Blog