Over about 34 hours, spanning from early Wednesday morning to Thursday afternoon, sports fans were reminded of two things:
1. Olympic hockey is amazing — Three of the four men’s quarterfinal games on Wednesday and the women’s gold medal game on Thursday were each tied at the end of regulation. Not only that, the game-tying goal in each of those four games came with less than 3:30 left in the third period.
It’s the kind of thrills that create new hockey fans, because nothing matches the excitement of a Game 7 that’s close and that’s essentially what these were.
2. Three-on-three overtime when the games matter is terrible — When the NHL decided to get rid of ties after the lockout in 2004, it took several tries for them to land with the current format of three-on-three for five minutes followed by a shootout.
It’s gimmicky, but it means every game has a winner. For the regular season, it’s fine. It’s fun to watch occasionally, but not a true decider of who is better. But it’s acceptable in the regular season.
But in elimination games, it’s awful.
Three-on-three hockey is simply not the same sport. Physicality and toughness are pillars of hockey throughout the first three periods. But when the game is on the line, tough and physical players often get marginalized and aren’t used in three-on-three OT.
Thankfully, the three-on-three disappears in the NHL playoffs, which are decided by real hockey.
But in the Olympics, even in the medal round, three-on-three exists straight through the gold medal game. It’s set up as follows:
Group stage and preliminary medal round — Same as NHL regular season. 5 minutes of 3-on-3 followed by shootout.
It’s important to concede one point to begin with. The NHL will never allow Stanley Cup playoff style overtime rules (five-on-five until its decided) in the Olympics. The players have to come back for a stretch run that will have many of the Olympians fighting for playoffs spots or seeds. The NHL is willing to expose their players to injury to help grow the game, but there’s a limit. They’re not going to be O.K. with games extending to two or three overtimes.
Plus the Olympics aren’t built for it either. The same people volunteering at a game one night, might have other responsibilities at skiing or something the next day.
Medal round: Preliminaries, Quarterfinals and semifinals — 10 minutes of five-on-five followed by shootout.
Men’s Finals — One 20-minute period of legit five-on-five hockey. In most games, this will be enough to crown a winner. Even if it’s not, it was at at least a worthy attempt.
After that they can start with either three-on-three period or a shootout.
Women’s Finals — The women should play 5-on-5 sudden death until there is a winner. While the NHL isn’t likely to risk its superstars to Stanley Cup playoff rules, it would be different for the women.
The PWHL has a good product, but they’re in the early stages of trying to get the attention of more and more sports fans. A classic USA-Canada matchup that goes five periods would be outstanding to watch and and tremendous for the women’s hockey and the PWHL. No reason to cut that off any sooner than they have to.
It’s too early to determine exactly how, but the MLBPA changing leadership this close to a seemingly inevitable work stoppage will almost certainly alter the negotiations. For good? For bad? Who knows?
But a different general means a different battle.
Clark’s replacement Bruce Meyer is a polarizing guy, even among the players, with a reputation for being combative. Meyer vs. Rob Manfred could be a scary matchup for people who just want baseball to get played.
Neither guy has a reputation as a compromiser. It could get ugly.
Bruins goalie prospect Michael DiPietro is a pleasant and engaging guy, but he had a request at the beginning of his interviews:
Please don’t mention any of his AHL stats to him. He goes out of his way to avoid knowing them.
Sports clues from actual editions of America’s favorite quiz show. As always, mind the date
One theory on the origin of this Canadian insult word is with the losing team’s task of spraying water to refresh the ice
1929 — Boston Red Sox announce they will play Sunday MLB games at Braves Field; Fenway Park located too close to a church (Source: On this Day.com)
What is a hoser?
