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

[spikechiquet]

Yup, it happened tonight.

Marquette and Orchard Lake St. Mary's end in a 1-1 tie after 8 Overtimes in the Division 1 Michigan State High School hockey finals.

http://www.mhsaa.com/sports/hock/08d1final.html

The "officials and managers" of the Michigan High School Athletic Association called the game a tie and awarded both teams the crown. The game was stopped after 109 minutes of play (a national record) due to the "health and welfare" of the participants.

To coin a phrase, ahem...YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME!!!

This is garbage! What if this was the state semis? Let both teams play in the final? WTF?

 

[Billy Pritchard]

What's wrong with the idea of postponing it until tomorrow, picking up after the 8th OT? Or better yet, just give everybody in the state a medal. They all worked just as hard as Marquette and Orchard Lake St. Mary's.

 

[spikechiquet]

I really think that this is a great idea. We should also make sure that from now on, all games are considered ties...that way, no one gets hurt and no one has to lose. Players can go out there and play their hearts out...and at the end, they can come together at mid-court, center-ice, etc. and all hold hands and sing to the joys of everyone being happy and no one losing!!!

 

[Billy Pritchard]

I think you could have skipped the blue font. That post is dripping with sarcasm already. :D

 

[zeke12]

Uh, you finish the game.

 

[Flash]

Whatever happened to the coin flip ... that's how it's done in soccer.

 

[Smallpotatoes]

In any game before the finals, you can't have a tie because somebody needs to advance. Nobody has to advance after this game.
The best thing to do in this case would be to come back a few days later and play another game.
I must admit, after eight overtimes, if anybody deserves to be co-champions, these teams do.
I've heard many people say that the state associations actually wants co-champions, but I just think that's a silly thing to say.

 

[RedSmithClone]

Why not a shootout?

Or as previously mentioned come back a few days later and play three more full periods of hockey.

 

[slappy4428]

Dear Jack Roberts,
Have you heard of a shootout?
Love, ,Slappy.

(Pssst: 8 OTs and OLSM had 34 shots on goal? ****in recruiting buncha bastards can't put shots on goal...)

 

[Rosie]

1. They never heard of Dave Spehar and 1995.

2. They never heard of 1985 and the game postponed till the next morning.

Just one more reason Minnesota puts on a better hockey tournament. (See the thread on MN state hockey.)

 

[spikechiquet]

Jack Roberts doesn't tie his own shoes without consulting the reserach department of the MHSAA.

Shoot out? No. 4-on-4? Sure.

But to Bud Selig this ****? No way!

 

[Smallpotatoes]

Why not a shootout?

Or as previously mentioned come back a few days later and play three more full periods of hockey.

I have heard one of those out-of-touch state association poobahs say he didn't like the idea of a shootout because one kid would end up going on the bus knowing he lost the championship.
I'm cool with shootouts in earlier rounds, but in the finals, after three or four overtimes, come back a few days later and start over.

 

[slappy4428]

1. They never heard of Dave Spehar and 1995.

2. They never heard of 1985 and the game postponed till the next morning.

Just one more reason Minnesota puts on a better hockey tournament. (See the thread on MN state hockey.)

2) My brother still pisses and moans about that bull****. Coming back the next morning was the Dumbest ****in move in the MSHSL other than dividing the hockey tourney into two classes.

 

[Batman]

Out here in Cali, there have been CIF-Southern Section co-champs in at least one division of boys soccer every year since 1998. Nothing unusual.

Yeah, but soccer doesn't count. It's a communist sport. :D

 

[crusoes]

Why not a shootout?

Or as previously mentioned come back a few days later and play three more full periods of hockey.

The only problem with that is that one team has to drive 450 miles one way to the game. So coming back isn't really an option.

They do ties in soccer all the time. Eight overtimes in hockey.... and it was a four-hour game. It's not like they made 'em sing "Kumbaya." I think the MHSAA can be as big a group of blowhards as any outside ESPN or the NCAA, but they made the right call.

 

[Smallpotatoes]

Why not a shootout?

Or as previously mentioned come back a few days later and play three more full periods of hockey.

The only problem with that is that one team has to drive 450 miles one way to the game. So coming back isn't really an option.

They do ties in soccer all the time. Eight overtimes in hockey.... and it was a four-hour game. It's not like they made 'em sing "Kumbaya." I think the MHSAA can be as big a group of blowhards as any outside ESPN or the NCAA, but they made the right call.

The problem is most people view co-championships as a cop-out. At least once every year, when two or three teams end up tied for first place in the league standings (in the regular season) somebody asks me if there's some sort of tiebreaker. I always tell them, no, they're co-champions. No tiebreaker is needed. In football in this part of this state, there is a tiebreaker because only one team per league can go to the playoffs. In every other sport, no tiebreaker is needed, but most people can't abide ties.

 

[crusoes]

Why not a shootout?

Or as previously mentioned come back a few days later and play three more full periods of hockey.

The only problem with that is that one team has to drive 450 miles one way to the game. So coming back isn't really an option.

They do ties in soccer all the time. Eight overtimes in hockey.... and it was a four-hour game. It's not like they made 'em sing "Kumbaya." I think the MHSAA can be as big a group of blowhards as any outside ESPN or the NCAA, but they made the right call.

The problem is most people view co-championships as a cop-out. At least once every year, when two or three teams end up tied for first place in the league standings (in the regular season) somebody asks me if there's some sort of tiebreaker. I always tell them, no, they're co-champions. No tiebreaker is needed. In football in this part of this state, there is a tiebreaker because only one team per league can go to the playoffs. In every other sport, no tiebreaker is needed, but most people can't abide ties.

Well, some people will have to suck an egg. I think 109 minutes of tied hockey is plenty. Four hours and 22 minutes of hockey is more than enough. And one of the teams had a nine-hour bus ride home the next day. So, in this case, it was the right decision.

 

[spikechiquet]

Out here in Cali, there have been CIF-Southern Section co-champs in at least one division of boys soccer every year since 1998. Nothing unusual.

Yeah, but....I'm sure there is a rule in place stating that. There is nothing in the books about ending a game after 8 OTs. That's what sucks about it. It was just a spot decision.

No one said much when the football team went to OT last Nov. Of course that was on TV...ratings win out.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

Covered a state title field hockey game that ended in a tie one time. Both teams burst into inconsolable tears when they learned their fate (Took MIAA officials quite some time to come up with same, big surprise).
Kids are tough. Any form of settling the issue would have been fine by them, all of them.

 

[Smallpotatoes]

Covered a state title field hockey game that ended in a tie one time. Both teams burst into inconsolable tears when they learned their fate (Took MIAA officials quite some time to come up with same, big surprise).
Kids are tough. Any form of settling the issue would have been fine by them, all of them.

Mike, as a veteran observer of the MIAA, do you think that co-champions is actually the desired outcome for that group, as I've heard some people suggest?