1. No More Ties
For years in hockey, teams left the ice in a tie. If there was not a clear winner by the time the periods were over, a match went into the tie column and that was it. The National Hockey League, or NHL, adopted the shoot out in 2005 to end that predicament. If, at the end of the last period, there is no clear winner, teams take turns shooting it out for the win. Even if there has been no score in regular play, the shoot out can break the tie. Tied Olympic hockey games have been decided by shoot outs since 1992.
2. Take a Break
After the regular time is played and there is a tie, the Zamboni ice cleaner comes on the ice during a 10 minute break to clear the way for a shoot out. The ice is cleaned in front of both goals. The team decides who will participate in the shoot out during this time. They choose the players with the highest number of slap shot goals, offensive players who can get the puck up to speeds of more than 100 miles per hour with enough accuracy to get it in the net.
3. Three on Three
Three players on each team stand in front of the goal, which is tended by the goalie from the opposing team. Each player has one shot to get the puck in. There are no defensive players on the ice. The shooter starts from his own goal side and races toward the goal to give the puck a slap shot. If the teams are still tied after the shootout, they keep trying one at a time in a sudden death shootout. Eventually, someone gets a goal and the game is over.
4. Stats Don't Hurt
The goalie who protects the net during a shootout does not have to take a hit on his stats for the goal. And the players who make the goal in a shootout do not receive extra points on their records for the shots. There are, however, separate shoot out stats now on record. And there are no more ties in professional hockey, where as many as 14 or 15 percent of the games played ended in ties.
5. Works in Training
Coaches have long used shootouts as a training tool both for the shooters and the goalies. While some say the maneuver is not real hockey because there is no defense involved, the exercise is very good for training purposes.
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