The Royal Kingdom of Quebec wrote:Savojarna wrote:
Why do you think a shootout is a joy-killer? I respect your opinion, but I am wondering because I have experienced shootouts quite differently. To me they are a thrilling all-or-nothing situation (which OT's, to be fair, are as well) but with the added intensity of everyone in the building knowing when said situation arises. In my opinion, a prolonged OT which, at least in the ones I recently watched, often devolves into a super-prudent defense first match offers less excitement and suspense than a series of one-on-one duels where many of them will be all-or-nothing situations where the outcome can very easily decide a winner. To me personally, a shootout after 80 hard fought minutes has a very epic quality to it - after hours of battle, if we count interruptions, one man has the weight and hopes of his team on his shoulders. I don't see how you cannot like that
And it's not like there is no connection between hockey skill and shootouts - it's not as if the decision was made by a coin toss or a contest of who can do more pushups at centre ice.
Shooutouts are more or less determined on 1-on-1 basis and not really a product of overall thriller generated by a nice pass from your teammate to you, close-scrimmage situations, etc.
And no. I don't like it no matter the circumstances. One-and-one duels in hockey, especially in determining a win and a loss, is a really anticlimatic way to end a game. It is also overly individualistic, which goes against what many associate hockey with. Do you also want basketball games to end with a three-point contest as well?
I don't know, I never watched a full basketball game.
The individualism point is a nice one, I never considered that. I still don't believe that one-on-one is inherently less climactic than a continuous OT format, especially not given how many overtimes I saw being ended by very anti-climactic goals of the "oh, it went in somehow" kind. That may be subjective though, I guess a lot depends on what you perceive as more interesting. I'm more disturbed by how defensive and safety-first most OTs I watch seem to be than by a shootout, but if you like this kind of game more than the skill display of a shootout I guess that's fair enough.