Old news for you

I may not be the quickest, but I am the best Minnesota Wild blogger?

I know, doubtful...anyway, John Shipley at the Pioneer Press wrote a great blog piece, Three-point games a killer. I have to say that I could not agree more with his take on the shootout. And I'll be the first to admit that 1-on-0 plays are very exciting. It's a play that we do not see enough of during the course of a game. The shooter against the goaltender is offensive skill versus puck-stopping ability at its finest. However, as Shipley states in his piece, it's not a fair way to end a game. And I'll go even further and say it's the most ridiculous way to end a game. I can think of 10 different hockey skill-sets and/or game stats that could easily be used instead to decide a tied game and all would be as equally hideous than what the NHL currently uses. So why the NHL adopted the shootout is not a mystery...most fans have 'bought' into the idea that the shootout is the way to go because they too think it's an exciting thing to watch. Unfortunately, those same fans don't care that the break-away play, which is what a we are taking about here, is only a small part of what hockey is. And they do not realize that they are getting short-changed and robbed of a decent way to end a game. Yes, I do not like the shootout, as I think it's an embarrassing way to end a tied hockey game, it's that simple. I'm embarrassed for the league, the players, and the fans who have to settle for this.