Sheesh. I though that after the Olympics I wouldn't have to drag this article back out for a _long_ time. That's OK. I stand ready to fight the forces of darkness wherever they may appear! This is an article that I wrote in rec.sport.hockey about four months ago. There is one thing that I'd like to add to it. A couple of people have said that you would need to flood the ice for a 10-minute OT. B.S. Playoff games in Canadian amateur hockey are decided with a 10-minute OT and NO FLOOD. If the game is still tied, then they flood the ice and go to 20 minute periods. >******************************************************************* >Date: Sun, 2 Jan 1994 04:32:48 GMT > >In a previous article, [log in to unmask] () says: > >>I was wondering what the opinion was regarding adding a shootout to decide NHL >>games. I've gone to **only** four IHL games this year (but two more next >>week), and one was decided by the shootout. I love it -- just the skater >>one-on-one with the goalie, it's so dramatic and exciting. It seems like that >>playing 65 minutes of hockey with no winner is just anticlimatic. > >Car crashes are exciting, does that mean we should see more of them? :) > >Actually I think shootouts are a great idea, so great it should be exported >to other sports. Why not decide basketball games that are tied the same way? >Wow, just think. If the Bulls and Magic are tied, we can have Scottie Pippen >and Shaq go one-on-one to decide it. Oooeee, the excitement. Maybe we >should have field-goal kicking contests to decide football games. (off the >freeway, off the scoreboard, split the uprights). What crud. > >I don't see why a hockey game should be decided by something that isn't >hockey. A hockey game should only by decided by teams playing hockey. A >shootout isn't hockey. Hockey is a team game, not a one-on-one sport, so it >shouldn't be decided by a one-on-one confrontation. > >I've got a better idea. Let's have the zamboni driver come out after a tie >game and flip a big coin at centre ice. The home team would call the toss. >WOW!!!! The excitement. The drama as the coin sails up in the air and the >captain calls "heads." The anticipation of the result as it lands, and the >referee says....IT'S HEADS! The home team wins!!!!!!! WOW!!! That sure was >exciting. You could even keep stats on it. You could track what a zamboni >driver is most likely to toss. You could track players' calling percentages. >Fans could second-guess him on sports talk shows! "Why'd that moron call >tails? He should know that our driver mostly tosses heads!! Let's trade him >and get someone who know what he's doing." > >Ridiculous, you say? Well, it's just as much hockey as a shootout. If ties >truly are evil to be avoided at all costs (and I'm not convinced they are), >then why not just keep PLAYING HOCKEY? Why go to this artificial crap? >What is wrong with playing hockey? That is what you paid to see, right? See you later, John -- John C.K. Edwards Stats Geek, Ottawa Jr. Senators (CJHL, Jr. A) Poli Sci/Law III PRINCE GEORGE SUCKS! CUSA Arts/SS Rep [log in to unmask] [log in to unmask] Ottawa, ON Unfortunately, my opinions aren't those of CUSA or Carleton U.