Has the time come for the NHL to award three points to a team that wins a regular-season game in regulation time? Pierre LeBrun of espn.com says it has. He says it’s time for the NHL to go to a 3-2-1 points system, something that was discussed at the league level more than 10 years ago. However, it doesn’t sound like the idea will get much, if any, traction with NHL execs. Brian Burke, for example, says he would “rather put a sharp stick in my eye.” . . . LeBrun’s piece is right here.
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Three points for a regulation victory — and doing away with loser points — is something that has long been discussed in this space. For the longest time, Dan Russell, when he was the host of the Vancouver radio show Sports Talk, and I often talked of the need for hockey to stop rewarding losers.
What follows appeared on this blog on Nov. 13, 2008.
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The hockey game is in overtime. A defenceman has the puck in the left corner of his zone. In trying to clear the zone, he throws the puck into the middle of the ice. An opposing forward corrals it, skates in and scores the winning goal.
In the dressing room after the game, the head coach of the losing team berates the defenceman for what was a critical error.
“What’s the big deal, coach?” responds the player. “We still got a point.”
Yes, indeed, the team lost the game in overtime but still was rewarded with a point.
And therein lies the rub — of the ‘major’ sports, hockey is the only one that rewards failure.
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Obviously, this has bastardized hockey statistics to the point of ridiculousness. For example, a player scores the game-winning goal in a shootout but statistics don’t credit him with a goal. A goaltender stops 10 shooters in the shootout but his save percentage doesn’t reflect it.
The standings show one team with a 6-9-0-5 record. But hasn’t that team really won six games and lost 14?
Never mind that the shootout takes what coaches preach is a “team game” and turns it into an individual sport.
And we won’t even get into coaching records. It used to be that a head coach’s record was measured in wins, losses and ties. These days, if a coach has been around long enough, you need five categories — wins, losses, ties, overtime losses and shootout losses — to chart his career. And how dumb is that? Go ahead, you try and figure out Don Hay’s actual winning percentage as a WHL head coach.
Geez, remember when a loss was a loss was a loss?
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Bill Motiuk is a hockey fan. And like a lot of us — hello there, Dan Russell — he despises the present system of awarding two points for a regulation-time victory and three points — two to the winner, one to the loser — of anything that goes beyond that. Loser points really are the scourge of hockey, aren't they?
So Motiuk put on his thinking cap and came up with a system that he says is “based on the business principle that the longer it takes you to get the job done, the more it will cost you.”
When I first looked at his idea, I thought, ‘Ah, what’s the big deal?’ But the more I thought about it and the more I re-read it and the more I absorbed it, the more it grew on me. And now I’m sold.
But in order to be sold on this, you have to go along with this premise:
Some games are worth three points, some are worth two and some are worth one. At first, I wasn’t enthused about that part, but the more I thought about it, well . . .
To begin with, this system puts a three-point value on a regulation-time victory. The winner gets three points; the loser doesn’t get a thing. “To get the three points,” Motiuk says, “you must win in regulation time.”
OK, but what if the game goes into overtime?
An overtime victory is worth two points. Again, the loser doesn’t get anything. “Being tied at the end of regulation deserves nothing,” he explains, “because it wasn’t a tie game and overtime only signified that the end of the first stage did not produce a winner. The winner in overtime only gets two points (as opposed to three) because he didn’t get the job done in regulation time.”
OK, but what if the game goes to a shootout?
The winner of the shootout would receive one point. The loser, again, wouldn’t get a thing.
“The eventual winner ends up forfeiting two points he could have obtained, again for not getting the job done in regulation time,” Motiuk reasons. “At the end of the night, the loser gets nothing because we should not be rewarding losers and there are no longer any tie games under the current system.”
The CFL has long gotten raked over the coals in some corners for awarding a single point on some missed field-goal attempts. But the NHL, the WHL and many other leagues also reward failure by giving points to teams that lose in overtime or a shootout.
“We only have tie segments,” Motiuk points out. “We do not give points for ties at the end of the first and second periods. So why give a point for a tie at the end of the third period? Why reward a team with a point when they lose in overtime? Ditto in the shootout.”
And that, folks, is my favourite part of all this and the thing that really validates it. If you are going to play overtime and if you are going to have shootouts, why give anything to teams for being tied at the end of the third period? As Motiuk points out, teams don't get anything for being tied at the end of the first and second periods.
The way he has it figured, this “would change the whole dynamic of the game.”
“The intensity of the game would be predicated by the three points available before the end of the third period,” he says.
Under this system, should teams be tied near the end of the third period they would be pulling out all stops in an effort to score. After all, score and win and you get three points; go to overtime and you will get two, one or zero points.
Hey, from where I sit, it makes sense. And it certainly is better than the system now in place. Which is why it doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance.
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In Regina, F Jesse Gabrielle scored twice to help the Pats to a 4-2 victory over the Spokane Chiefs. . . . F Riley Whittingham gave the Chiefs a 1-0 lead at 1:12 of the first period. He’s got 10 goals. . . . Gabrielle then scored twice, at 10:37 of the first on a PP and at 9:42 of the second, to give his guys the lead. . . . He’s got 17 goals. . . . Regina F Sam Steel added his 14th at 9:17 of the third. . . . Spokane F Adam Helewka got his 28th, shorthanded, at 14:14. . . . Regina had F Jake Elmer, a 16-year-old from Calgary, in their lineup and he picked up an assist. It was his first WHL point and came in his third game. . . . Pats G Daniel Wapple stopped 29 shots, seven more than Spokane’s Garret Hughson. . . . Regina (30-17-6) has points in five straight (4-0-1). . . . The Chiefs (25-23-4) are 1-1-0 on a six-game East Division swing. They are fourth in the U.S. Division, six points behind Seattle. But the Chiefs hold down the Western Conference’s first wild-card spot. . . . 
In Prince Albert, F Pavel Karnaukhov scored twice as his Calgary Hitmen got past the Raiders, 3-2. . . . F Simon Stransky gave the Raiders a 1-0 lead with his ninth goal, at 13:56 of the first period, on a PP. . . . The Hitmen scored the next three goals, with Karnaukhov, who has 19 goals, getting the first two of those, both via the PP. . . . F Chase Lang, with his 22nd, upped the lead to 3-1 at 16:24 of the third. He also had two assists. . . . Raiders F Craig Leverton got his 16th just 14 seconds later. . . . Calgary G Brendan Burke stopped 26 shots, four fewer than Nick McBride of the Raiders. . . . The Hitmen (30-17-5) have won seven in a row and now are eight points behind Central Division-leading Medicine Hat. Calgary visits Saskatoon tonight. . . . The Raiders (21-31-2) have lost four in a row (0-3-1). They are 11 points out of a playoff spot with 18 games remaining. . . . Jeff D’Andrea of panow.com has a game story 
In Cranbrook, G Jordan Papirny stopped 31 shots to lead the Brandon Wheat Kings to a 4-1 victory over the Kootenay Ice. . . . The Wheat Kings lost D Ivan Provorov to an undisclosed injury early in the third period. . . . Brandon scored the game’s first three goals. . . . F Tim McGauley had a goal, his 34th, and an assist for Brandon, as did F Nolan Patrick, who has 25 goals. . . . Brandon F Morgan Klimchuk scored his 21s goal and F Rya Duke got his 18th, both striking on the PP. . . . Brandon was 2-for-4 on the PP; the Ice was 0-for-4. . . . The Wheat Kings had beaten the Ice 5-3 on Friday. . . . Brandon (40-9-5) is 11-0-1 in its last 12 games. It leads the Eastern Conference by 12 points over Medicine Hat. . . . The Ice (27-26-1) has lost three straight and holds down the Eastern Conference’s second wild-card berth, one point behind Edmonton. . . . The Ice and Wheat Kings will complete their four-game season series in Brandon, Feb. 27 and 28. . . . The Wheat Kings play their fourth game in five days in Lethbridge today. . . . Taylor Rocca of the Cranbrook Daily Townsman has a game story from Saturday’s game 
In Kamloops, the Kelowna Rockets scored three PP goals en route to a 5-2 victory over the Blazers. . . . It was Kelowna’s 17th straight regular-season victory over Kamloops. The Blazers last beat the Rockets on March 3, 2013. . . . The Rockets lead the season series, 7-0-0. . . . F Justin Kirkland scored twice and added an assist for the Rockets. He’s got 21 goals, the third Rockets skater to get to 20. . . . Kelowna scored four times in the first period to take a 4-1 lead into the second. . . . The Blazers’ second goal came off the stick of F Jake Kryski, on a PP, at 1:26 of the second period. . . . When Kryski scored, Kamloops head coach Don Hay had him on the PP with Jesse Zaharichuk and Joel Hamilton. Consider that Kryski, who now has eight goals, had gone 28 goals without scoring, and that Zaharichuk has two goals this season, and that Hamilton hasn’t scored in 20 games. . . . Kelowna F Tyson Baillie got his 32nd goal, while F Rourke Chartier got his 43rd. That put him back into a tie for the WHL goal-scoring lead, with Medicine Hat F Cole Sanford, who had scored earlier in the evening. . . . Kamloops F Quinn Benjafield took a headshot major and game misconduct for a hit on Baillie at 14:42 of the third period. Baillie got off the ice under his own power but headed to the dressing room. . . . Kelowna was 3-for-8 on the PP; Kamloops was 1-for-3. . . . One night earlier, the host Rockets beat the Blazers, 5-3. . . . The Rockets (41-8-4), who are to entertain Prince George on Monday afternoon, have points in eight straight (7-0-1) and lead the overall standings by one point over Brandon. . . . The Blazers (20-29-6), who are at home to Tri-City on Monday afternoon, have lost three in a row. They are third in the B.C. Division, one point ahead of Vancouver and Prince George. . . . 
In Prince George, F Cole Benson scored off his own rebound at 2:12 of OT to give the Edmonton Oil Kings a 2-1 victory over the Cougars. . . . Cougars F David Soltes scored his 10th goal, on the PP, at 2:31 of the first period. . . . The home side nursed that lead into the third period when Edmonton D Ashton Sautner scored his 12th goal, on the PP, at 5:58. . . . On Friday night, the Cougars had ended a 12-game losing streak with a 5-2 victory over the Oil Kings. . . . Last night, Edmonton G Patrick Dea stopped 15 shots, while Prince George’s Ty Edmonds turned aside 37. . . . Among Prince George's scratches were D Josh Connolly and F Aaron Macklin, both out with concussions. . . . Edmonton (25-24-6) had lost is previous three games. It now holds down the Eastern Conference’s first wild-card spot. The Oil Kings will play in Victoria on Monday afternoon. . . . The Cougars (21-31-3) are tied for fourth with Vancouver in the B.C. Division, one point behind Kamloops. It is looking more and more as though only one of those three teams will make the playoffs. . . . The Cougars play in Kelowna on Monday afternoon. . . . 
In Kennewick, Wash., the Tri-City Americans erased a 1-0 deficit with four straight goals and beat the Everett Silvertips, 4-3. . . . F Nikita Scherbak gave Everett a 1-0 lead at 15:44 of the first period. . . . The Americans then scored twice in the second and twice in the third to assume a 4-1 lead. . . . F Beau McCue got two of those goals, giving him 20. F Richard Nejezchleb got his 16th and F Lukas Nickles got No. 19. . . . Everett made it interesting with goals from F Dawson Leedahl, his ninth, at 10:53 of the third and F Remi Laurencelle, his 14th, at 14:00. . . . McCue also had an assist, while Nejezchleb had two of them. . . . Tri-City F Tyler Sandhu also earned two assists. . . . Tri-City G Eric Comrie stopped 31 shots, 10 more than Everett’s Austin Lotz. . . . Tri-City was 2-for-4 on the PP, while the Silvertips were 0-for-5. . . . The Silvertips had beaten the visiting Americans 4-1 on Friday night. . . . The Americans (25-25-3), who play in Kamloops on Monday afternoon, had lost their previous four games (0-3-1). They are fifth in the U.S. Division, but have possession of the Western Conference’s second wild-card spot. It would appear that all five U.S. Division teams will make the playoffs. . . . Everett (33-16-4) had won its previous two outings. The Silvertips are at home to Portland today with a five-point lead over the second-place Winterhawks. . . . 
In Victoria, F Tyler Soy scored three times and added an assist to lead the Royals to a 6-2 victory over the Red Deer Rebels. . . . It was the first WHL hat trick for Soy, who has 20 goals. . . . He scored the game’s first goal, on a PP, at 6:58 of the first period. Then he got the game’s last two goals, the final one shorthanded into an empty net. . . . The Royals were 2-for-7 on the PP and scored two shorties. . . . Red Deer F Austin Adamson scored his fifth goal at 17:33 of the second period to get the Rebels to within one, at 3-2. . . . Victoria F Brandon Magee scored his 16th goal, shorthanded, at 19:43 to restore the two-goal lead. . . . The Rebels were without F Conner Bleackley, their captain, who suffered an undisclosed injury on Friday in Vancouver. . . . D Alexey Slepstov made his debut with the Royals. He was acquired from Moose Jaw at the trade deadline but was injured at the time. . . . The Royals (29-20-4), who are at home to Edmonton on Monday afternoon, have won three in a row and are a comfortable second in the B.C. Division. . . . The Rebels (28-17-8) have lost two straight. They went 1-2-0 in a three-game trip into B.C., and now are third in the Central Division, one point behind Calgary. . . . 
In Kent, Wash., G Taran Kozun stopped 38 shots to lead the Seattle Thunderbirds to a 3-0 victory over the Vancouver Giants. . . . Kozun has three shutouts this season — all in his last five starts — and eight in his career. . . . F Corey Millette got Seattle started with his 14th goal, on a PP, at 2:03 of the second period. He’s got six goals in 12 games since being acquired by the Thunderbirds from Saskatoon at the trade deadline. . . . F Mathew Barzal had a goal, his ninth, and an assist. . . . D Evan Wardley had two assists. . . . Vancouver G Cody Porter stopped 39 shots. . . . With Payton Lee (hand) injured, the Giants had Griffin Baillie, an 18-year-old from Merritt, B.C., on the bench in support of Porter. Baillie plays for the junior B Aldergrove, B.C., Kodiaks. . . . Seattle (27-19-6) has won four straight and is third in the U.S. Division five points behind Portland. . . . Vancouver (21-29-3) is tied for fourth with Prince George in the B.C. Division, a point behind Kamloops. . . . Seattle will visit Vancouver on Monday afternoon.
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