Once a game goes into overtime, you’re looking at one of two things:
1) Does the team have enough players in-shape enough to keep going indefinitely? Can your players go all-out? If they do, they’re gonna burn out and get sloppy. There is no definite end-point to the activity of the game.

2) Does the team have consistent offensive talent to score regularly in shootout? If you make it past the first round of shooters (5) in a soccer match, you’re moving into your defensive players. Are they just goons, or can they also place a shot?

I like option 2 because it focuses on a well-rounded team (or possibly a spectacular goalie which I don’t like so much). I don’t know if hockey requires a full round of shooters in shoot-out before calling it, but I think that would go a long way to keeping it as a team-focused event.

And the spectacle of a shootout is just too awesome to pass up!

Which reminds me: if I sound the least bit excited about the B’s next year, brain me. Just go ahead and put me out of my misery.

Brad: You hit on the argument I make most strongly: don’t reduce a team game to an individual competition. I don’t terribly mind the shootout on the NHL level—it is growing on me, and its use is limited—but I hate it for the college game.

You can actually have a shootout in the NCAA, but only during regular season tournaments where having a team go multiple overtimes is not desirable because the outcome just isn’t that important. I’ve only come close to seeing that once, and then our boys scored to beat Ferris State with under a minute left in OT.

The day Bettman so much as floats the idea of shootouts in playoff games is the day I begin agitating for a violent overthrow of his regime.

Then there’s the statistics issue that showed up in this most recent NHL season — you can’t compare goaltender or team victories with past seasons.

I wasn’t in favour of the shootout before it came along, but it’s growing on me. I’m really glad that they don’t use it in the playoffs — regular season games don’t really mean as much as playoff games and a bit of a show is kind of nice.

ties are great when your team scores the equalizer with 30 seconds left and equally terrible when your team gives it up late. in those cases your expectations were adjusted to the outcome you expected and a last-second tie changes that. but in most cases, at least for me, a tie just doesnt provide the closure that i like to have. but then again, i’m neither a hockey nor soccer fan, so that’s not surprising.