http://www.sbnation.comhttp://www.sbnation.com/users/borgy Posts made by borgy on SB Nation http://www.nucksmisconduct.com/2009/2/9/754118/extending-overtime borgy Mon, 09 Feb 2009 20:20:45 -0000 <p>James Mirtle (who I believe has something to do with SBN) wrote <a href="http://mirtle.blogspot.com/2008/01/argument-for-longer-overtime.html" target="_blank">this</a> post on the argument for extending the NHL's overtime period. Basically, Mirtle defers to stat-man Gabe Desjardins who breaks down what would happen if overtime were extended from five to ten minutes. Desjardins does calculations and figures that after a five minute overtime, the probability of us having a winner is 45%. However, after a ten minute overtime, the probability grows significantly to 70%.</p> <p>To put this in different terms, increasing the overtime period from five to ten minutes dramatically increases our chances of the game not being decided by shootout.</p> <p>Now I know this is something that people feel very strongly about. Some fans love the shootout and the excitement it brings to the game; others feel that it is a cheap way to determine the outcome of a game. After all, look at Mirtle's example in the article: the Oilers last year went into 19 shooutouts. Yeah, that's right, 19. And they won 14 of them. That's 14 points right there that the Coilers got in 2007-2008 shootouts. Our Canucks went into 14 shootouts last year; we won 6 of them. Interestingly enough, our beloved Canucks&nbsp; finished just 3 points away from qualifying for the playoffs.</p> <p>So, should the NHL consider extending the overtime period and reduce the number of shooutouts? Or is the current format alright?</p> <fieldset class="poll-box"> <legend>Poll</legend> <h5 class="poll-title">Should the NHL extend the overtime period from five to ten minutes?</h5> <div id="poll_container_35663_627899475" class="poll_container"> <div class="poll_option clearfix"> <div class="poll_option_percentage" style="display:none">13%</div> <div class="poll_option_result"> <h5>No, the current format is fine.</h5> <div class="poll_option_bar"><span class="vote_count">2</span> votes</div> </div> </div> <div class="poll_option clearfix"> <div class="poll_option_percentage" style="display:none">86%</div> <div class="poll_option_result"> <h5>Yes, absolutely!</h5> <div class="poll_option_bar"><span class="vote_count">13</span> votes</div> </div> </div> <p class="poll-total-votes"><strong>15</strong> votes | <span class="poll-has-closed">Poll has closed</span> </p> </div> <script> FastInit.addOnLoad(function(){ new SBN.Poll('poll_container_35663_627899475').animateResults({renderImmediately:true}); }); </script> </fieldset>