Time to scrap the shootout
The NHL’s too boneheaded to send players to the Games, but even they understand OT
Please forgive the confusion, but shouldn’t OAR be the name of a rowing team?
Questions such as this — infinitely worse than any inquiries posed by Colleen Jones — can result from a fortnight of sleepdeprived immersion in all things Winter Olympics.
I am, you should know, an Olympic maven. Consider this 2009 conversation with Dale Oviatt, who was then the exalted sports editor of this fine newspaper chain.
Dale: “You’ll be stationed in Whistler, covering ski jumping and Nordic combined.”
Me: “Thank you! Just one question.”
Dale: “Yes?”
Me: “What is Nordic combined?”
A combination of ski jumping and cross-country skiing, I soon discovered.
For a moment, I wondered why anyone would wear cross-country skis while soaring through the air.
Then I realized two different disciplines were involved and, ever the professional, unreliably passed along that vital information to the unsuspecting reader.
With my — ahem — credentials well-established, here is a selection of thoughts on the 2018 Olympics as the grand event nears its conclusion.
Scrap the shootout: This opinion is not simply a byproduct of the United States defeating Canada 3-2 in a shootout to win the women’s hockey gold-medal game. Regardless of the outcome, the shootout is a ridiculous method for deciding a champion. The teams treated fans to 80 minutes of riveting hockey, only to have the International Ice Hockey Federation’s goofy rules dictate that a skills competition should determine the winner. Yes, the shootout was a spellbinding spectacle, but the same description applied to the game when it was five-on-five and four-on-four.
Still not over it: Why didn’t Marc Crawford use Wayne Gretzky during the shootout in 1998?
Philling space: Amanda Kessel, who scored one of the Americans’ goals in the shootout, is the sister of Pittsburgh Penguins forward Phil Kessel. The siblings’ father, Phil Kessel Sr., was a member of the 1982 Calgary Stampeders. In fact, the elder Kessel played at Taylor Field on Oct. 3, 1982, when the Roughriders won a 53-8 nail-biter. Kessel, who shared the Stampeders’ quarterbacking duties with Gerry Dattilio, was 10 for 22 for 122 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions. The Roughriders’ Joe (747) Adams threw three touchdown passes — two to Joey Walters and one to Dwight Edwards — during a CFL game that was shown on NBC during the NFL players’ strike. Over to you, Colleen.
Three cheers for Colleen: I wish people would stop bleating about Colleen Jones’s supposedly harsh and heartless interview with Rachel Homan after the Canadian women’s curling team was eliminated from playoff contention. Jones, an accomplished curler herself, was direct and unflinching with her line of questioning, as she should have been after Homan became the first Canadian female skip to not reach the playoff round at the Olympics. Homan handled the interview quite well, whereupon Twitter exploded with anti-Jones splutterings. Jones, to her credit, did not coo over the interviewee, which was a refreshing alternative to the lovey-dovey figureskating yak sessions.
Enough, already: Are Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir an item? Will they ever be an item? Why is this even an item? Who cares? Just enjoy their skating and their consummate class, and leave it at that please.
Hooray for Hudey: White City’s Marsha Hudey, appearing in her second consecutive Winter Olympics, was 10th in her longtrack speedskating event, the 500 metres. Little fuss was made over her placing, but sit back and consider her accomplishment for a second or three. How many people do you know who are the 10th-best in the world at anything?
Irrational hockey league: The National Hockey League players should be at the Olympics, period. Without the sport’s premier performers, the Olympic men’s hockey tournament is essentially the Spengler Cup in February. The previous five Winter Olympics spoiled us with best-againstbest. Alas, the NHL’s big brains deprived us of watching Sidney Crosby and Connor McDavid on the same power play.
On a positive note: The NHL does not use the shootout in the playoffs.
I wish people would stop bleating about Colleen Jones’s supposedly harsh and heartless interview.