RonC writes:
>I would think that shootouts are something teams would want to avoid.  65
>minutes of hockey pretty much comes down to a roll of the dice.  I would
>think the effect of the shootouts would be to force teams to play for the
>win in OT rather than protect the tie.
 
Here's another thing to think about with the new points system:
before, if you held on for the tie and forced a shootout, you were
guaranteed half as many points as if you won outright.  Now, if you do
this, you are guaranteed a smaller percentage - 40% (2/5) as compared
to 50% (1/2).
 
That's a big reason why the new points system is good.  More motivation
to win a game outright.
 
If we continue to see a number of shootouts, then heck, it could just
be because a number of the teams are pretty evenly matched - seems
from what I saw that all of the shootout games featured even matchups
in terms of the way the teams performed.
 
Also, I know a number of people think the new system seems kind of
strange.  I suggest you look at it in the following way: consider the
relative differences between teams in terms of what has to be done to
pull even, instead of the point differences.  That is, if TeamA has 8
points and TeamB has 3, then TeamB only needs an extra win to catch up
to TeamA.  And so on.
---                                                                   ---
Mike Machnik                                            [log in to unmask]
Cabletron Systems, Inc.                                    *HMM* 11/13/93