Did anybody notice how much of the "exciting" shootout in the Olympic final
consisted of referee Rob Hearn skating back and forth across the rink
performing clerical tasks?
 
But questions of administration aside (and I doubt the coaches gave much
thought to how much verbiage would have to be added to the rule book and
what kind of administrative procedures would have to be put in place to
enable shootouts), the main problem I have with the shootout proposed for
Hockey East is that it violates what I consider to be a basic principle of
league play, namely that every contest should have the same value.
Currently, every college hockey game is worth two points. Under the Hockey
East proposal, some games would be worth two points, some three, and how
much a game is worth would be determined by what happens during the game. I
haven't seen such compelling evidence for the shootout to support changing
the basic "two points for a win, one for a tie, none for a loss" without
giving it a lot of thought.
 
Now, if somebody would like to propose a scheme like the following...
 
Result                     Winning team   Losing team
------                     ------------   -----------
Win in regulation                4              0
Win in overtime                  3 (or 4)       1 (or 0)
Win by shootout                  3              1
Tie                              2              2
 
or maybe...
 
Result                     Winning team   Losing team
------                     ------------   -----------
Win in regulation                6              0
Win in overtime                  5              1
Win by shootout                  4              2
Tie                              3              3
 
I just think all contests should be weighted the same; then you can
distribute the points differently based on different outcomes.