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STONY POINT… A lot of guys who have played the game of hockey have also went on to do some coaching. Whether for a short time or as a life long pursuit, showing and teaching the game to young players coming into it can be a gratifying experience. I was fortunate to have been able to do that for many seasons until I could no longer dedicate the time necessary to participate. When I was involved, I, like many others always wondered what it would be like to coach at the upper levels of the game.

There is much involved to it. I knew my X’s and O’s knowledge would need a boost. As much as I watch varying levels of hockey, if you watch an NHL play unfold there is a good chance there could be 3 to 4 components to it to make it work successfully. One play alone could involve 2 different players being the decoy’s to the one or two others who would actually carry it out. And then if you are going to defend against a play like that, how do you set up against it? What are the moving parts? And then what of the motivational and psychological angles to the game?

It is both simple and complex at the same time. So I marveled at the stories preceding the recent Hockey Hall of Fame ceremonies about now HHOF Coach Fred Shero. Yeah, I know, he coached the Philadelphia Flyers that I have loathed since they came into the league along with my beloved Minnesota NorthStars. But he also coached my childhood pre-NorthStar favorites, the St. Paul Rangers. What a dichotomy huh? At any rate, all of the stories and tales I got to hear about Shero the past two weeks served as a great reminder of what makes for a great coach that does make it to the upper levels of the game.

Shero hailed from Winnipeg, played for the New York Rangers in the 1950‘s, was an outstanding amateur boxer and enjoyed many scholarly pursuits. He firmly believed in the power of higher education. He was amongst the first coaches to extensively study Soviet hockey training and systems. He was one of the first to utilize video as a coaching aid. And many credit him as being the grandfather of the morning skate. Popular theory has it that the morning skate came about as a means to keep players from staying out until all hours of the night before a game. From what I know, it is true.   

As player’s and many front office personnel extolled the virtues of Shero as a coach and recounted to the man how much they loved playing for him, I found that I had to soften my stance on the Flyers, at least until the induction ceremony was over. He believed in repetition as a teaching aid and wasn’t afraid to do some quirky things to check on his players attention level. Once, after performing a monotonous drill many times over he asked a player what he thought of the drill, to which the player replied, “it stinks Coach”. Shero said, “you are right, I was just waiting for one of you guys to tell me that”.
Regarding his “Broad Street Bullies’, it was said that Shero never told them to go out and play that way, rather he told them to go out and do what they had to do to win, go out and do what you do best. He was well known for things he wrote on the blackboard he had in the locker room, the most famous saying being that of which he put on the board before a Game 6 Cup clincher; “Win today and we will walk together, forever”. He was right. More then half of that club was at the Hall for the ceremony.

Shero’s son Ray, the current GM of the hated cross state rival Pittsburgh Penguins spoke on behalf of the family in acceptance of his fathers award and was most eloquent in his speech. He was a young kid when the Flyers were tops in the league and knew all of the players from his dad’s era. You could see the respect and friendship between all of them. It was quite a special evening and congrats to all of the inductees for your contributions to my favorite game of all….

THE NHL GM’s met the next day in Toronto and on the docket was a debate about how to alter Overtime in a manner to minimize games ending in a shootout. I have twisted and turned over this for decades. When the Northstars were still in the state, they had a 758-970-334 regular season record. 334 ties! I agonized more then once considering the end result of 65 minutes of hockey rendered the fans a game with the same result as when it started; a tie. And it was also frustrating back then to see two clubs play the last few minutes of the game and the OT session in a manner to protect the one point they were going to get. It was maddening.
 
I was glad to see the advent of the shootout, or anything that would give the fans a result on the game one way or the other. Anyway, many things have been discussed, lengthening the OT period, playing a few minutes of 4 on 4 followed by a few minutes of 3 on 3, and any viable ideas making the shootout an absolute last ditch game decider. Many other possible methods have been discussed. I liked the 4 on 4 and I believe the 3 on 3 would be too gimmicky for my tastes. If you really want to get a decision and minimize the number of games that go to a shootout, there is only one thing to do.

Get rid of the “loser” point. Quit rewarding teams for tying the game and then eventually losing it. 2 points for a regulation win, 3 for an OT or SO win, zero for the loser. I still see, even with the shootout, too many clubs that hang on in order to protect that one solitary point. The only reward goes to the victor. It’s the best idea I have heard of so far in the debate…. PEACE

Marc Elliott is a free lance sports opinion writer who splits time between his hometown in Illinois and Minnesota. Elliott grew up in the Twin Cities with many of his childhood neighbors working or playing for the Vikings and Twins. He participated in baseball, football and hockey before settling on hockey as his own number one sport. Elliott recently wrote “The Masked Fan Speaks” column for the Lake County News Chronicle for ten years and was a prominent guest on the former “All Sports” WDSM 710AM in Duluth.