High School Hockey State Co-Champs?!?!?!?

It happened again. This time in Ohio...co-champs named after 7 OTs

http://espn.go.com/espn/story/_/id/10576298/ohio-high-schools-share-ice-hockey-state-title-7-overs

Funny thing is...I'm six years older now (to the day!) and I think it was the right thing to do.

 

A few things not mentioned: How long are high school hockey games? And how long are OTs? Oh, and was there other teams waiting to play their final?

EDIT: Found a report saying they played 7 8-minute overtimes and 101 minutes total, so that's three 15-minute periods.

Apparently there's not provisions for shootouts or four-on-four in the rulebook for high schools.

 

BYH, I can top this in the horror sweepstakes. I once covered a girl's field hockey state final that ended with co-champions. Both teams broke into uncontrollable weeping when the announcement was made, and it took the officials about a half hour and several phone calls to figure it all out.

 

There are hockey tournament shootouts here. They are controversial... at least this year. (Watch the tape, I was told... by representatives of both teams. :)

The state high school hockey championship games are today, and they will end in ties -- I believe after just one OT, two max. So does soccer.

 

There is only one state title game in Ohio. But it's played at Nationwide, so there is no way they could have come back on Sunday to finish (not because the Blue Jackets are playing, just because the OHSAA wouldn't have the money to rent it out again).

 

Very interesting to wake up seeing my alma mater on SportsCenter this morning ... I went to school with Sylvania Northview's head coach (Mike Jones, a former ECHL player) and at least one of the assistants. They're very competitive people, and I'm sure it took some arm-twisting to get them to agree to the decision. The local newspaper had photos from the welcome home ceremony last night, and it was obvious that those players were spent, even several hours after the game.

Anyhow, hockey people do not like to determine championships by way of shootouts. To them, that's not hockey.

That said, an issue with high school hockey is that overtime periods are only eight minutes long. You can't put together much of a prolonged attack in that time. Extending OT to 15 minutes (the length of a regulation period) likely will give you some better scoring opportunities as defenses wear down.

 

Good thing it wasn't a semifinal game!

 

It seems silly that the NFHS wouldn't have a shootout rule. They have it for soccer -- two overtime periods, then the shootout -- and, I believe, in most other levels of amateur hockey. With hockey, maybe three 10-minute OT periods and then a shootout would be a good compromise?
Shootouts are never a satisfying way to end things, but it's better than a tie or the prospect of endless overtimes. You reach a point where it's obvious no one is going to score on anything more than a fluke goal, because they're so tired they can barely move.

 

This happened in North Dakota about 30 years ago, Grand Forks Central and GF Red River were declared co-champions after playing 5 or 6 overtimes.

 

New Jersey has shootouts during the rest of the state tournament, but a single 15-minute overtime in each final... and there was a tie.

 

Yeah, really.

 

I can understand not having shootouts during the regular season, but not having them in the state playoffs is a pretty epic failure.

I'm sure there are a lot of people who think this is great. No losers. Next year they'll just cancel the playoffs and buy everyone ice cream.