The Shootout

And now, I'm going to talk about why I hate the shootout.

Close your eyes for a second.

Imagine you and a friend have been racing for a mile. You come to the end of the race, both crossing the finish line at exactly the same time. The judge gives you two options. You can call the race a tie, or play rock paper scissors to decide the winner. Oh, and one more thing. You are Gary Bettman. Which option do you decide to go with?

Do you see what I'm getting at?

When a regular season game ends through overtime, the game should be called a tie. Yes, we would lose out on a little excitement, but we would gain an extra dose of fairness! Here are a few reasons why shooutouts should be "shot out" as fast as that horrible pun I just made.

1) Shootouts allow teams with good goaltenders *cough cough not naming any names newyorkrangers cough cough* to coast through overtime with the hope of winning the game on a breakaway competition. The formula is simple: first, get to overtime by barely tying the opposition. Second, once in OT, maybe try a little offense to see what kind of luck you can garner. When that doesn't work, play tight D, counting on your goalie to guide you through. Once he does, shoot first in the shootout. This way, when you've shamelessly won the game in a one-on-one competition with the opposing goalie, your own goalie will stop the puck and get you that extra special second point.

How is this fair?

Good [real] teams with the game in regulation/overtime, and don't rely on their goalie. The shootout should not be a large reason for a good team's wins. Clubs should be forced to take risks during the actual game rather than play conservatively, hoping to make it to a final round of breakaways.

2) The shootout takes away from the novelty of a penalty shot, previously the most exciting play in hockey. Remember how exciting penalty shots used to be? We only saw them maybe once every...well, only a little bit. Barely ever, in fact. Now with the advent of the shootout, a penalty shot is just a "weird" shootout in the middle of a game. What's that about?

3) Maybe it's just me, but somehow, when a team wins through a shootout, the outcome doesn't "feel" like a real win. It feels like the victor got lucky and gained an extra point in the standings. Hockey is the most exciting game on earth, and should be kept that way -- while the shootout is masked to be exciting, the real excitement comes from goals DURING GAMES -- and I just said exciting many times to emphasize this point.

A crapshoot skills competition should never decide the outcome of a professional sporting event. Perhaps the only positive the NHL has going with the addition of the shootout is the elimination of the event during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. I've always been against penalty kicks -- which are even more ridiculous -- deciding the world cup.

Conclusion: The shootout should go.