Considering the high price of tickets, if there is one thing hockey fans deserve, it's an outcome. There's nothing more disappointing than leaving a game not knowing who won or lost.
Thanks to the shootout, the tie is dead.
The two most common complaints about the old NHL were the lack of scoring and the preponderance of ties. The shootout addresses both while treating fans to an outcome based on the most exciting play in hockey, the penalty shot.
The shootout doesn't change the essence of the game. Teams still play a five-minute overtime, and those that lose after regulation are awarded a point. Moreover, the format won't be used in the playoffs.
Shootouts have been used in international and NCAA hockey for years and have produced some of the sport's most exciting finishes, including Peter Forsberg beating Canada's Corey Hirsch to give Sweden the gold medal in the 1994 Olympics.
The shot was so memorable it was commemorated on a postage stamp.
When's the last time you could say that of a tie?
- FRANK PASTOR
LATEST GIMMICK CHEAPENS REST OF THE GAME
Struggling leagues frequently resort to gimmicks - most of which neither please hard-core fans nor inspire non-fans. Remember the XFL?
The latest exhibit of gimmickry: the NHL shootout.
The shootout has little to do with the rest of the game. Sure, penalty shots, usually earned by attacking players who are mugged, are exciting - partly because they're rare, a point the NHL seems to have missed. But to have a bunch tacked to the end of a game that has had overtime? Why? Give both teams a point already.
The NHL started down this road in 1999-2000 when it began awarding points for overtime losses (an anomaly, as teams get rewarded for losing). Worse, the overtime is four-on-four, another artificial version of the game.
Now comes a shootout, great for teams that happen to have a few players who deke well - a valuable skill, but only one component of a player's arsenal. Through Friday, Nashville was 6-0-0 with three shootout wins. A nice story, but are the Predators 6-0 good or 3-0-3 good? They have three cheap points, with more to come.
- JIM TOMLIN
Last week
Should the Devil Rays change their name?
Pastor (No) - 516
Tomlin (Yes) - 499
This was the first week of the new series. Frank Pastor eliminated Rodney Page in the previous series.
