Many hockey fans have railed against the shootout as a way to solve a tied game during the regular season. Even some players have spoken out against the skills competition to settle a game.
So imagine how peeved players are in Calgary after a Bantam AA playoff game was decided by a coin toss after the three player shootout.
The two teams started their game at 7 p.m. on Saturday and the coin toss ended things at 9:00 p.m. but here’s where things get confusing.
Apparently somebody asked WinSport reps to extend the time but it was refused as paying customers who booked the ice for 9:30 had priority. So the hockey teams, who paid for the ice didn’t have priority to finish the game.
But there’s more confusion as WinSport claims they were never asked to extend the game. Still with me on this? So later in a statement made to a local media outlet WinSport claims they did try to accommodate the teams in this game with more time. So which is it? They refused to budge or they tried to help?
Let’s muddy the frozen water a bit more shall we? The executive director for Hockey Calgary said the game ended at approximately at 9:30 p.m. but WinSport claims the game ended at 9 p.m., then the ice was flooded and the next game started on schedule at 9:15. So which side is telling us the facts and which is giving us the Trump version of facts? Either way, when you look at the time line of this mess you would think another 15 minutes would not have been a stretch for these kids to get a winner and the next group to still get their allotted amount of ice. The key word here is “ think”.
On a Saturday night, how difficult would it have been to let these teens finish a very important game and then just extend the time for the next game as well? I have to think the 9:30 game was the last on the night so where was the problem with granting more time to either play for the win or even have a shootout to decide your winner?
Hockey Calgary has had this ridiculous solution for four years now and this is the first time it’s been used and should be the last time.
I understand ice time is tight in Calgary but in some cases, like this one, common sense would be enacted instead of a lame rule. I have to wonder about the folks who got together and figured this was a good solution to ending a hockey game with lots on the line for these kids.
I find it mildly amusing the place where this all happened is named WinSport. Maybe an addition to the name should be “but only win during our time.”
So heads or tails?
