Shoot to Thrill

In 2005, the National Hockey League adopted the shootout to settle ties in regular season games. The shootout is used if the game remains tied after five minutes of overtime. Ten years later, the shootout is one of the most significant and controversial rule changes in all of sports. Some maintain that the shootout erases a sixty-five-minute emotional rollercoaster between two teams and that it's wrong for games to be decided based on a one-on-one battle between a shooter and a goalie. Others argue that shootouts provide edge-of-your seat excitement as two supremely skilled players go head-to.