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

Seeing the Senators' Kaspar Daugavins plant the tip of his stick on top of the puck as he was about to make his shootout attempt, a big smile crept up on my face as I thought to myself, "Damn, what the hell is he going to try to do?!"

At the very least, I knew he was going for it.  I knew he was taking a big risk going in with an unorthodox maneuver that could very well leave egg on his face.  But he rolled the dice with the 19,000 or so in attendance watching in anticipation of his shootout move.

Unfortunately, while he came close, he didn't score, and the Boston Bruins would win the game with their next shooter.  But no one was really talking about the Bruins victory.  Everyone was talking about Daugavins.

What disappointed me, but perhaps didn't surprise me either, were those who criticized Kaspar for his move.  He was turning the game into a circus, they would say.  He was showing disrespect to hockey by hot-DAUGing it when his team was trying to gain a valuable point.  And of course, most of the critics would also add how they hate the shooutout.

Do you remember at any time an NHL fan saying, "Boy, that was a hell of a TIE the other night!"  When both teams would sit back and sleepwalk through the final minutes of regulation, as well as the 5 on 5 overtime, to secure the one point and call it a day...those are games no one remembers and for me, nothing I want to revisit.

If the players had the winning, go-for-broke mentality for each and every game, the introduction of the shooutout would have never happened because fans would witness some exciting hockey as teams would go for the victory to the final buzzer.  But that didn't happen and the NHL decided we needed something to bring some entertainment, which is what watching sports is all about, when regulation time doesn't settle on who's the victor.

We've witnessed some wonderful goals that have been scored during a go-for-it 4 on 4 overtime, as well as some nifty shooutout goals, and misses, since being introduced to the sport over 7 years ago.  You want your ties?  You can have them, and don't forget (because you often do) to turn off the TV once the shootout commences.  I'll take that missed attempt by Kaspar over a tie NHL game any day of the week.