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Hartley Miller's Slap Shots - October 7th Edition

By Hartley Miller

The “new” N-H-L is back, and with it a vast number of different rules, including the highly controversial shootout. If the shootout represents the new era of hockey, please let's go back to the old ice age. No other sport has one set of rules for the regular season, and another for the post-season. Yes, hockey has taken a gigantic step backwards, with the introduction of the shootout. It makes a farce of the game, and is nothing more than a gimmick, or at best, a skills competition.
This new brain wave has also influenced other leagues including the Canadian Hockey League. Now junior teams, like the Prince George Cougars, could have their playoff fates determined by a shootout. (In the Cougars case, this could be the best way to finally get them back into the post season, but that's another story).
If games in the NHL, and WHL this season are tied after regulation time, and neither team scores in a five minute overtime period, then hockey fans get the privilege of watching a breakaway contest, no less than three times for each team to determine a winner. And if the game is still tied, then it keeps going back and forth until one team scores, and the other doesn't; just like we witnessed in a Cougars pre-season game against Kamloops at the CN Centre. 

The “suits” who like to run hockey insist that the shootout was adopted to entertain the fans. This is nonsense. If the NHL and CHL really cared about the hockey fans then why not implement a 10-minute overtime period, and if the game is still tied, then award no points. That's right, two points for a win and zero for a tie. Now, this would create exciting, offensive hockey, something that the spectators crave, and deserve. 

Keep this in mind. If the shootout really improves the game, then why isn't it included in the playoffs as well? No one has yet to come up with a satisfactory answer, other than to suggest that the playoffs are sacred. All the other rule changes to hockey are for both the regular season and post season. 

It's not going to take long before hockey fans not only get bored with the shootout, but demand an end to this exercise. Just wait until a starting goalie gets injured in the shootout to see the reaction. 

I can’t imagine basketball deciding its game on a free throw competition or baseball breaking a tie with a home run derby. What do the so called head honchos think this is soccer?

? Long overdue. Massey Place Stadium officially becomes Masich Place Stadium on Saturday, October 15th. The City of Prince George is holding a name changing ceremony at 2pm on that date at the facility. There isn't a more deserving person than Tom Masich for an honor of this magnitude. His wife, Anne, and their family, have also been instrumental in making the PG Track & Field Club one of the most respected in not only the province but the entire country.

? If you think the PG Cougars are the leaders in dwindling home attendance, check again.At a recent first-division soccer match in Alajuela, Costa Rica, a grand total of 19 fans showed up to watch a game.
Carmelita team president Carlos Gonzalez told the newspaper Extra, "We've had bad sales, but never like this”. Oh, by the way, 15 of the 19 were cheering for the visiting team, Santos, who scored a 2-1 victory. 

? Comedian Jerry Perisho, on a fitting tribute to the 1960's “Get Smart Agent 86” star Don Adams, who died at the age of 82. "Quick, somebody grab the 'cone of silence' and plant it on Terrell Owens."

? From NBC's Tonight Show host Jay Leno, on the U.S. president throwing out the first pitch before a game. "Not sure he knew it was Little League. When President Bush reached down and shook hands with the players, he said, "This is proof our steroids policy is working".

And, how is your week?



--Hartley Miller is the sports director for radio stations 94X and the Wolf@97FM. He also writes for the PG Free Press, and is author of You Don't Say (Andrews-Mcmeel, 2005).

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