I think it's great if Nick Gildred (or others) want to conduct an off-line poll on the shoot-out, but the answers will make sense only if the question does. A shoot-out as compared to what: the old 60 minute tie? the previous 60 plus 5 minutes sudden death? 60 minutes then a shoot-out? or the proposal that was floated in Chance, 60 minutes, a shoot-out, then a 5 minute reprieve? And more important, when should such systems be use? The shoot-out may be a regular season crowd pleaser, but as I head for the Gahden tonight, I want to see a game that is won or lost by a complete team. So before some poll is annointed as representing HOCKEY-L nation, let's make sure that we know what we are comparing. Incidentaly, I'm puzzled by the argument that the Shoot-out is somehow flawed because it made a difference in the standings (i.e., created a first place between BU and Maine). The whole point of any of these systems (sudden death, shoot-out, etc.) is to make a difference. A final point, not many people seem to realize it, but Maine actually benefited from another, more subtle change in the HE rules this year, namely using head-to-head competition to determine seedings in the case of a tie. Until this year, the first tie-breaker was league victories, which would have given BU the number one slot in the playoffs. Had Maine and BU met in the finals, Maine would have had the slight edge that goes with being the "home" team (last move on line changes). As it happened, however, this meant that Maine had to face a rapidly improving Providence team, so the number 1 seed may have been a dubious honor.