In Europe, the penalty kick is the most anticlimactic moment in sports. For 120 minutes, 22 men have fought up and down the field, only to have the game decided by a one on one competition that’s hardly representative of on the field talent.
In America, the hockey shootout is the most anticlimactic moment in sports. For 65 minutes, any 6 men of 22 have gone up and down the ice for each team, only to have the game decided by a one on one competition that’s hardly representative of on the ice talent.
Okay, but the penalty kick and hockey shootout aren’t going anywhere, so the solution to make them suck less has to assume that we can’t completely eliminate them as a whole. So how do we make them suck less?
Here’s one simple solution: allow the opposite team’s head coach to select who shoots. As an example, if the LA Kings are playing the Arizona Coyotes, the Coyotes head coach would select the 5 Kings shooters, while the Kings coach would select the Coyotes’ shooters. This is equally applicable in both hockey and soccer. Why would that make it suck less? Here’s a few reasons why:
- It requires coaches to have an understanding of who the weakest players on the ice/pitch are, given the scenario. The weakest hockey player may be the best shootout star, so coaches could get themselves into a situation where they think they’re picking a hack, only to see him cross the goalie (or keeper) up for the game winner.
- It gives the little guy the opportunity to be the hero, and excuses him for being the goat. Hey, he already sucked, right? That’s why he was picked? But when he comes through, he’s the underdog that nobody (including the opposite team’s coach) ever believed in. Could you imagine the World Cup Final, where the game winning penalty kick comes from the guy who normally spends his time riding pine at his club? He would become world famous overnight, and the story would be just amazing to see.
- Once you start getting deep into extra frames, the big names eventually have to come up. Could you imagine the intensity of a 12 round shootout that ends with Jonathan Toews being stopped? It’s just fun to write that. Jonathan Toews being stopped. Anyway, it would be quite the site to watch, as the “list of suck” starts to dwindle down and you see the household names step on the ice (pitch, whatever).
- You know that this would end up with goalies being chosen first and the idea of a goalie on goalie shootout is amazing and needs to happen tomorrow. This point is a lot less interesting (though still so) for soccer than hockey.
It seems to me like this could be a simple tweak that would create a lot of excitement over something that has become mundane (the NHL shootout) or that nobody likes (Penalty kicks in various Cup competitions in soccer). What say you? What other ways could one fix the shootout in hockey, or penalty kicks in soccer?