Pitarresi: Hockey shootout provides excitement

 

Shootout hockey?

 

It was on display tonight at the Fredonia-Utica College hockey game.

 

Everyone seemed to love it. The fans sure did. More than 3,000 were roaring as the Blue Devils and Pioneers squared off after tying 3-3 after 60 minutes of regulation and five more minutes of overtime.

 

Shootouts are an experiment in nonleague college hockey games this season. That didn’t make any difference. The coaches were excited. The players were excited. And the fans, many of whom might not have realized that the result would not count, sure were excited. UC got the best of it when captain Bryce Dale, the seventh Pioneer shooter, beat Pat Street, and then UC’s Anthony Luckow stopped Alex Morton.

 

Is the shootout a good thing? If you are a fan, you bet it is. And if you are a coach or a player, you have nothing to lose. You already have a point for a tie, and you might get another for a win.

 

Pity the poor sportswriter or sportscaster working on deadline, though. A shootout adds 10 or 15 minutes to a game. That means less time to write or to prepare a broadcast.

 

So, I’ll be waiting for all those sympathy cards the next time I cover a shootout.