A four-hour, 22 minute game in the NHL playoffs is not an epic battle. It's an excruciating bore.
I love overtime in hockey. Who wouldn't?
But overtime period after overtime period after overtime period? No way!
I am quite certain this will offend many and quite frankly, I don't care.
Play one period of 5-on-5 overtime and if the score is still tied, play 4-on-4 until a winner is declared. It really isn't a radical idea. I understand this would be a huge break from tradition, but that doesn't mean it is wrong. The NHL went to 4-on-4 in overtime in 1999-2000 and we survived, right?
For heaven's sake, it's just a freaking hockey game! The fate of the world is not depending on the outcome.
Sunday's four hour and 22 minute marathon between the Detroit Red Wings and Anaheim Ducks was not a classic. It was not a game for the ages. Five years from now we'll all forget it was ever played. Well, maybe not Todd Marchant of the Ducks because he put us out of our misery by finally scoring the game-winning goal at 1:15 of the sixth period.
The NHL is still searching for ways to sell the game in the United States and no matter what Canadian fans may think about that, it has to be a priority for the game to prosper. So when a major network opens a three-hour window for an NHL game to be played in prime time, then that game had better end in three hours. Or, at worst, everything should be done to make sure the game doesn't drag on and on.
NBC announced beforehand it would pull the plug on Saturday's Pittsburgh-Washington game if it went beyond one period of overtime to broadcast the 135th running of the Kentucky Derby. You would have to be delusional not to understand why such a decision was made. The Kentucky Derby versus a Saturday afternoon NHL game. Hmm, wonder what gets the bigger ratings in the States?
Thankfully it wasn't an issue.
Before you go racing to the bottom of the page to fire off a nasty email reminding me baseball games can go deep into the night because of extra innings, may I remind you baseball is a little more widely accepted in the United States than hockey. When hockey matches baseball in popularity, get back to me on this overtime issue.
The NHL has done a wonderful job in recent years making changes to improve the game. It's not about catering to Americans; it's about improving the product. After a painful period during which time the league established a standard for eliminating obstruction, the game is better. Not perfect…but better. Goalie equipment has been reduced in size and the game is better. The shootout was introduced in the regular season and the game is better.
I love for the day when I can sit down to watch an NHL playoff game knowing I don't have to have a week's worth of food and supplies in the house just in case it goes into overtime.
Your move, Gary.
* Craig Simpson gets it. The former NHL star and color commentator for Hockey Night in Canada provides sharp analysis of games, but knows when to keep his trap shut and let his play-by-play man call the action.
I don't know what has happened in recent years, but analysts are highjacking the games. The art of play-by-play is being squashed by a bunch of blabbermouths who can't wait for a stop in the action to wow the audience with their observations and opinions. I'm not saying there isn't time when a good analyst can speak during the action, especially now that many of them or located at ice level where they have a much better view of the action. But some analysts now speak more than the guy in charge of calling the action.
TV producers would be wise to rein them in.
* So Charles Wang says he wishes he had never bought the Islanders, huh? What a shock!
Wang claims to have spent more than $208 million to keep the Islanders afloat since purchasing them in 2000 and the franchise shows no signs whatsoever of being financially viable moving forward. The team plays in a crappy building, has a weak talent base and lacks a bona fide star.
And it you think either John Tavares or Victor Hedman is going to step in and make an immediate positive impact, you are dreaming.
Wang is a guy that likes to run the show, even though he didn't know a hockey puck from a Joe Louis when he purchased the club. The smartest thing he ever did was hire Neil Smith to be the team's general manager and he screwed that up firing Smith a short while later because the former Rangers' GM dared to try to do things his way - you know, the same way he did things when he built the Rangers' 1994 Stanley Cup championship team. Instead, Wang turned to his team's backup goalie to be the GM.
I am always amazed how some people can be so intelligent in accumulating a fortune and so dumb in terms of how they spend it.