| Falcon icers fare well in shootouts (1-14-12) |
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| Written by By KEVIN GORDON, Sentinel Assistant Sports Editor |
| Saturday, 14 January 2012 01:36 |
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Bowling Green’s hockey team has fared well in shootouts. The Falcons are 10-4 in the four seasons the Central Collegiate Hockey Association has used shootouts. The shootouts, which are essentially penalty shots, are used if a game remains tied after a five-minute overtime. “I like shootouts, win or lose,” Falcon coach Chris Bergeron said. BG is 5-3 in shootouts during Bergeron’s two seasons, including a 3-1 record this season. “I don’t think fans come to the game in hopes of seeing a shootout, but fans enjoy the shootout and I enjoy it,” Bergeron said. But there are those who don’t like the shootouts because games are being decided by a skills competition. All games ending in a shootout are counted as ties since the CCHA is the only of the five leagues to use a shootout. By counting those games as ties, the shootouts don’t impact the NCAA selection process. Teams receive three points for a regulation or OT win, two points for a shootout win and one point for a shootout loss. No points are awarded for a regulation or OT loss. The other leagues award two points for a regulation or OT win, one point for a tie and no points for a regulation or OT loss. Shootouts also are used by the NHL and Canadian major junior hockey, which compete with U.S. college hockey for players. The shootout has a bigger impact in the CCHA because it only plays 28 league games, compared to 82 in the NHL and approximately 65 in Canadian major junior hockey. “Why not use the shootout? That’s what our competition does,” Bergeron said. “If we’re trying to get kids to come to our side, let’s do what they’re doing.” How to break ties will be a major topic of discussion this spring during the national college hockey meetings. The NCAA uses a two-year cycle for rules changes and next season starts a new two-year cycle. Among the numerous proposals are to go to an NHL style 4-on-4 overtime or extend the overtime to 10 minutes. Overtime currently is 5-on-5. CORNER: BG played well last weekend in 2-2 and 1-1 ties against Ohio State last weekend, leading some to believe the program has turned the corner. The Falcons, idle this weekend, are 6-13-5 overall and 1-11-4-3 in the CCHA. “I’ll leave that to the people who want to give an opinion whether (we’ve) turned the corner or not,” Bergeron said. “We’re in the middle of turning it, but what if things don’t go well the rest of the way? Are we turning around again? We’re a work in progress and if other people want to say we’ve turned the corner, they can say that. I don’t know how to measure it that way. “Once we get to a bar, we’re going to raise it. I expect this thing to be great. Once we get to great, then we’re going to raise the bar even higher.” PLETSCH: BG freshman left wing Ted Pletsch has played well of late, totaling two goals and one assist and a physical presence in the last four games. The 6-foot-3, 200-pounder assisted on BG’s goal in Sunday’s 1-1 tie against Ohio State. The goal came with just 56 seconds left in the game. “He’s a big guy. He skates well for a big guy,” Bergeron said. “He’s being hard on pucks, on people. When he slashes through the open ice ... and does everything hard, he’s going to be everything we want him to be and then some. He’s such a nice kid, we want him to get a little bit of a growl on. If he does that more consistently, he’ll make more of an impact on our lineup.” RELIEF: Cam Wojtala’s goal against OSU Sunday ended a streak of 10 games without a point for the freshman forward. He’s one of BG’s best players. “It’s nice to get the monkey off your back,” said Wojtala, who has four goals and 10 assists in 22 games. Like many of BG’s 18 freshmen and sophomores, Wojtala is being asked to play a major role for the Falcons. “We’re young team and we just have to be ready to execute in whatever role we’re in,” Wojtala said. |
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Comments
Keep the shootouts and the Goldilocks five minute overtimes.
It's a team sport. It's meant to be decided that way. There's nothing wrong with a tie, but to have playoff seeds determined (and potentially home ice) based on a string of penalty shots is not right.
Oh, but wait, it's such a great idea, the Olympics decides its medals that way. Just imagine if Cavallini's goal never happened because they played one overtime and went to penalty shots.
You can't play a bunch of overtimes every night in the regular season. I get that. But call it a tie and move on.
Baseball games can last “forever” since the physical demands on players are minimal. (Look at the length of cricket matches!) The only things baseball teams must worry about are boredom and running out of food and pitchers - team players sit rested in the dugout or stand, largely idle, in the field.
Unlike baseball, nearly every player on the hockey bench, with the exception of the backup goalie, must sprint for 60-90 seconds every four to five minutes of the game, making unlimited overtimes physically grueling. Hence, the five minute overtime.
The chances of scoring in hockey are slim. In overtime, two good goalies playing against increasingly weakened teams will stop, on average, 930 out of 1,000 shots. Combine this with the physical exertion required in the game and you can see why it makes sense to limit the number of overtimes played during the regular season.
Cavallini's overtime goal could happen today since playoff games are still decided by sudden death overtime, which means the game could last “forever.” The shootout rule applies only in regular season games.
And finally, shootouts bring a sharp closure versus the vagueness of a tie, while adding excitement and drama to the end of a game. I like the rule and I hope they keep it.
http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/sportSkills?sort=total_rank#grid
Boxing is #1. Hockey is #2.
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