The SBP Archives - Your less than frequent dose of SBP!

The playoffs are about 10 days away, and the time for the best hockey of the season is something all fans can look forward to (even for me, who thinks a 7th place finish for the Sens might be considered a triumph).

Now one thing that will come back from time to time, that really needs to be corrected, is overtime. Overtime, by itself, isn't a bad thing. But how long is too long? One extra period? Two periods? Five? It's happened before: games have gone on until 2am when the players are running solely on the powers of Gatorade and, hopefully for them, they aren't playing on a back to back night. Most viewers have longed turned off their TV sets and sometimes the paid crowd in attendance start to head for the exits. It's not that they wouldn't want to watch the whole thing normally, it's just that things like work and family can get in the way of watching hockey in the early hours of the morning.

Before traditionalists stop reading my solution to end these marathon games (you're pretty savvy: you could tell by my subject headline where this was going!), I just want to go over some reasons why it makes no sense for overtime to go on and on while the fans, and even the players, want it to come to an end so they can wake up at a reasonable hour the next day:

1) Who actually watches these all-nighters? I love it when the announcers recall past "classic" marathon overtime games and talk about how historic it was (rarely do they use the words "exciting" when describing them). Well, I never saw them. Any of them. How many of you have actually taken the time to watch a full game until 3am? My point is, if no one's watching, outside of the very few faithful who watch it all no matter what, there is absolutely no point. We all have lives to lead, and it requires sleep to make it to the next day.

2) The quality of the play. First off, how many are actually playing 100% by period five? Answer: None. And usually the goal is some flukey out-of-nowhere play with little drama built up, unless maybe there's a powerplay. And don't forget these series are a best of 7, and that takes its toll on its own. How good will these players be as the series goes on? What if the game falls on a back-to-back night...how good are the players going to be the next day? Yes, they are athletes, and yes, everyone talks about how you have to have the endurance for a full 2 months to become a Stanley Cup champion. But at the same time, if the players are lethargic because of these late games, how good is the quality of the hockey for the fans who pay to see them?

3) Injuries. The longer the game runs, fatigue and stress put on the athletes' bodies for playing longer than what they are used to causes things like pulled groins and hip flexors amongst other injuries.

And another thing...it'd be more exciting. When us, the fans, know that it CAN'T go on forever and you know the actual time frame the game will come to an end, the tension and drama built up to the conclusion will make the game that much more exciting. And that's what we want: excitement. It's what makes the game entertaining. So this is what I propose:

If, after regulation, it's tied, traditional five-on-five hockey for a 20 minute period. Still tied? Let's go to a 10 minute, four-on-four OT. Whoa baby, I'm getting excited just typing that out! And then, after playing a full 90 minutes of hockey the game is STILL tied...let's do it: SHOOTOUT. The fans will be on their feet. Everyone who was just channel surfing will stop to watch the outcome. No one, I mean no one will be leaving the game or turning off the TV to go to bed.

And there's some positive side effects to come out of my proposed format, namely, it adds a little more credibility to the regular season four on four OT and games decided by shootout.

Ideally, we wouldn't want it to come to this. We'd like it if the team on team play could decide the winner and that would be that. But, with my proposal, if the two teams still can't figure out who the winner is after playing 1 and 1/2 games of hockey, there's probably not much difference in the two teams that would decide a winner for that night anyway. Let's end the game at a reasonable time, let's make it as exciting as possible to watch, and let's be able to go to work the next day with a decent amount of sleep. Let's use the shootout.