Hockey OT Format

[Dustin]

Wanted to start a discussion about how OT is played in hockey.  I am not familiar with how all leagues do their OT, but from what I’ve observed recently, once the game gets to OT, what is played is a lot less like the actual game of hockey (3x3, shoutouts, etc).

I understand that staying 5x5 can create a long drawn out game with teams taking few chances.  4x4 seems the most appropriate to me, though a 4x4 situation still isn’t that common in regulation.  3x3 and especially shoutouts are skills competitions more for the fans.

So who has ideas for a more “hockey-minded” solution?  

One idea that someone on here suggested that was really intriguing to me was to do alternating power plays.  This would sort of follow the OT format in college football, where each team gets an equal number of chances at scoring, in this case via a 2-minute power play.  If Team A scores on theirs, but Team B doesn’t score on theirs, Team A wins.  If both score or neither score, a second round is played, and so on and so forth.  A possible rule could be that if Team B scores short handed, they win, but I am not necessarily sold on that.  If additional penalties are called during the power play, I would suggest the following:  If the attacking team commits a penalty, their turn is over, and the other team gets to start their power play.  If the defending team commits a penalty, they go down another man for the remainder.  Penalized players would not get to play in the next round, but could come back after that.

 

[Blackheart]

The power play idea seems like more skills competition/fake hockey to me as well.  I'm a fan of the 5 on 5 format and if it's tied at the end of OT its a tie.  But in today's world everyone needs to have a winner or loser so that's where the 3 on 3 and shootout crap started.  Oh, and the shootout at the end of a nonconference matchup is the dumbest thing ever.  There are no league points given and it's officially recognized as a tie by the NCAA.  So why the shootout?  The answer is apparently fireworks.

[Dustin]

3 minutes ago, Blackheart said:

The power play idea seems like more skills competition/fake hockey to me as well.

I guess anything aside from 5x5 is a sort of special teams situation.  So, I guess hockey governing boards need to examine how important it is to promote a faster scoring scenario than 5x5 would generate.  If the answer is “Yes, a faster scoring scenario is preferred,” then at least power plays are common feature of regulation hockey, whereas none of the other options are.

[fightingsioux4life]

For regular season games: Go to 4 x 4 for 10 minutes

If the game is still tied, then it goes down as a tie.

No more infernal shootouts; they should be banned from the game.

And no, 4 x 4 is not the same as 3 x 3. It's not even close to the same thing.

Too many gimmicks and too much overthinking in the game today.

[The Sicatoka]

Regular season? Regulation ties are acceptable.

Post season? Keep playing regulation periods until sudden victory. 

[fightingsioux4life]

1 minute ago, The Sicatoka said:

Regular season? Regulation ties are acceptable.

Post season? Keep playing regulation periods until sudden victory. 

Agreed.

[sioux rube]

24 minutes ago, The Sicatoka said:

Regular season? Regulation ties are acceptable.

Post season? Keep playing regulation periods until sudden victory. 

Bingo 

[Blackheart]

1 hour ago, The Sicatoka said:

Regular season? Regulation ties are acceptable.

Post season? Keep playing regulation periods until sudden victory. 

Ok, but if it's a regular season tie, then who's the winner?

[Blackheart]

Oh, and while we are at it, the NHL can fix their effed up scoring as well.  If the NCHC can make all games worth the same amount of points, the NHL should be able to figure it out.  Currently regulation wins are 2 points; loser gets nothing.  If the game goes to OT and/or shootout, the winner gets two points and loser gets one point.  So you have two point games and three point games; why can't they fix this?

[The Sicatoka]

12 minutes ago, Blackheart said:

Ok, but if it's a regular season tie, then who's the winner?

The answer involves indoor pyrotechnics and rationalizers on Facebook. 

[TNF]

2 hours ago, The Sicatoka said:

Regular season? Regulation ties are acceptable.

Post season? Keep playing regulation periods until sudden victory. 

^This^ plus encourage officials to actually call penalties in the third period and in overtime(s). One of the biggest reasons these games drag on is the fact there are zero special team situations even when they are more than warranted.  And it doesn’t have to be power plays. Two guys get into after the whistle…match them up and go 4x4. 

And to be clear, I’m okay with continuing to ignore the ticky-tak penalties that don’t directly impact the play.  But far too often the whistles get completely swallowed including infractions on scoring opportunities  

 

 

 

[SiouxFan100]

Wrestling has “riding time” to solve a tie. Is there anything in hockey that makes sense? Maybe time in the opposition end?

[cberkas]

What I don't like is how the shootout doesn't count (outside conference points) but every conference does it anyway. Just make the shootout count in the PWR and get rid of ties. 

What really should be done is 5x5 or 4x4 for 20 minutes (15 would work too) and no shootouts. If shootouts don't count for anything outside of conference point, then why do they have them. It's not like the NCAA is doing a W-L-SOW-SOL or W-L-SOL. The shootout isn't all that exciting to begin with anyway. 

 

[nodak651]

Agreed on getting rid of shootouts.  I'm a fan of 4x4 for ten minutes, and even a goal isn't scored it will still take less time than 5 min plus shootout.  With 4x4, make OT worth the full amount of a win instead of the 2/3rds like it is currently with 3x3.  Make a win mean something again.  3x3 is awful with all the regrouping that's done.  If 3x3 remains, call a penalty if a team regroups back past either center ice, or the blue line back into their own D zone.  

I think I recall Chaves saying on his podcast a year or two ago that he was in favor of 4x4 which was good to hear.

[Big Green]

My only real problem with the current OT system is that the media acts like the an OT Win and a Regulation Win are the same.  Last weekend was not a split.  ASU got 4 pts and UND got 2 pts.

41 minutes ago, nodak651 said:

Agreed on getting rid of shootouts.  I'm a fan of 4x4 for ten minutes, and even a goal isn't scored it will still take less time than 5 min plus shootout.  With 4x4, make OT worth the full amount of a win instead of the 2/3rds like it is currently with 3x3.  Make a win mean something again.  3x3 is awful with all the regrouping that's done.  If 3x3 remains, call a penalty if a team regroups back past either center ice, or the blue line back into their own D zone.  

I think I recall Chaves saying on his podcast a year or two ago that he was in favor of 4x4 which was good to hear.

I'm a fan of something along the lines of this.

I doubt 3x3 goes away as I think the majority of Fans actually enjoy it.  The ones that have a problem with it are the Hockey purists.

The problem I have is when a loss and OT Win are called a split.  If you get 2 of 6 points you did not split the weekend.  

I don't think the average fan at the game realizes that the OT win is not the same as a regulation win.  I've had a few conversations with students and they will tell me a win is a win after an OT win.  I will tell them not exactly and they have told me they never know that.

 

 

[fightingsioux4life]

47 minutes ago, nodak651 said:

Agreed on getting rid of shootouts.  I'm a fan of 4x4 for ten minutes, and even a goal isn't scored it will still take less time than 5 min plus shootout.  With 4x4, make OT worth the full amount of a win instead of the 2/3rds like it is currently with 3x3.  Make a win mean something again.  3x3 is awful with all the regrouping that's done.  If 3x3 remains, call a penalty if a team regroups back past either center ice, or the blue line back into their own D zone.  

I think I recall Chaves saying on his podcast a year or two ago that he was in favor of 4x4 which was good to hear.

I have been advocating this for several years.

[nodak651]

17 minutes ago, Big Green said:

My only real problem with the current OT system is that the media acts like the an OT Win and a Regulation Win are the same.  Last weekend was not a split.  ASU got 4 pts and UND got 2 pts.

I'm a fan of something along the lines of this.

I doubt 3x3 goes away as I think the majority of Fans actually enjoy it.  The ones that have a problem with it are the Hockey purists.

The problem I have is when a loss and OT Win are called a split.  If you get 2 of 6 points you did not split the weekend.  

I don't think the average fan at the game realizes that the OT win is not the same as a regulation win.  I've had a few conversations with students and they will tell me a win is a win after an OT win.  I will tell them not exactly and they have told me they never know that.

100% agree.  It's too confusing and it doesn't need to be.  A programs win/loss record means essentially nothing because there is so much weighting for home/away/ot wins/regulation wins.  I'm fine with home and away, but the fraction of a win for OT is kind of stupid - if a team only gets a fraction of a win because 3vs3 isn't real hockey, then play real hockey in OT.  4 vs 4 is a happy medium.  If anything, I'd like to see a 3vs3 win just count for a full win.  It sucks that when a game goes into OT it can already feel like a pairwise loss, depending on the opponent.