Here is an article that I found interesting over on
Yahoo.com, it’s also a flash point issue with many college and NHL hockey fans. Many of these hockey fans are also passionate about the shootouts, both for and against. Personally, I think the shootout is exciting part of the post lockout NHL and I think it’s a very good way to end a game during the regular season, however, I would never endorse it for ending/deciding a game in a league champion.
TORONTO – Two-on-two? Not gonna happen. But three-on-three? Now that’s something we could see in NHL overtime someday.
Of all the ideas being tested this week at the league’s Research, Development and Orientation Camp, the most realistic ones with the biggest potential to impact the game involve overtime. The league is looking at two-on-two and three-on-three concepts, as well as four-on-four with teams switching ends to create long line changes.
Most everyone agrees the shootout has become too common. The debate is over what to do about it.
”I’d like to look at anything that reduces the number of games that are decided by a shootout,” Toronto Maple Leafs general manager Brian Burke said. ”I mean, basically we’re deciding an astonishing percentage of games with a shootout. We never envisioned that when we approved that rule.”
When the NHL introduced the shootout in 2005-06, the thought was that teams would go all-out in the five-minute, four-on-four overtime period, trying to earn two points in the standings.
It will be interesting to see where the NHL goes with this. While some hockey fans like ties in hockey, personally I can't stand a hockey game that ends in a tie, I call them sister kissings. A tie feels like a loss to me in some instances.
