Your Turn, and Again, and Again
If the IIHF hadn’t already done everything in their power to enrage hockey purists around the globe then they certainly have now. Anyone who watched yesterday’s Canada-USA semi final match up at the World Junior Championships already knows exactly what I’m eluding to. From no touch icings to mandatory visors for all players born after 1974, many of the IIHF’s unique rules are frowned upon by hockey purists but accepted nonetheless. However the IIHF’s new shootout format, which permits the same player to take multiple shots in a single shootout, has taken things too far.
In case deciding a game of immense magnitude in such an individualistic manner wasn’t already bad enough, now the IIHF has taken the very last semblances of team play out of the shootout. As one TSN broadcaster so aptly put it later in the evening “Towes beat Mueller 3-2 in the shootout as Canada beat the US 2-1 to advance to the gold medal game.”
Not only does this format kill any chance at a team effort (if you can even call it that) in the shootout, but it erases the chance of an unsung hero emerging and getting his 15 minutes of fame. Like the shootout or not, there is not a hockey fan in the world who witnessed Malik’s goal in the Caps-Rags marathon last season who doesn’t secretly hope for a similar occurrence every time a game is tied after regulation.
Mr. Fasel, if you’re reading this, for the sake of hockey please do something about this abhorrent way to decide games.
Juniors
Comments:
I still can’t stand any game of importance ending in a shootout. It’s so “what if” for a quick ending and a temporary high/letdown.
One thing about this shootout: it was the first time I can remember rooting for a goalie to make a save, as opposed to the NHL shootout where I just want anything to go in.
Posted by David M Singer on Jan 04, 2007 at 05:31 AMLike David says, the shootout probably shouldn’t be used to determine the ending of a game of such importance. (Playoff games, championship rounds, and so on). And about how the Towes scenario unfolded, you’re probably right—it should at least have been a team effort.
But that shootout also had a positive side (to me, anyway). That is, it was fairly intense, regardless of who was doing the shooting. Every shot with the potential to take the team to ‘glory’ or despair. Watching that thing damn near gave me heart failure… and while well-played, sudden-death overtimes can do the same thing, the s/o practically guarantees that kind of drama.
The fact that one kid had so much pressure in that might have added to the drama as well. And I suppose it’s that - right or wrong - that makes the IIHF like it so much.
Anyway, just my disconnected thoughts on the issue. Welcome to TIB, Kyle!
Posted by alanah on Jan 04, 2007 at 11:50 AM
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