Sept. 26--Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville was asked recently if he considered the new 3-on-3 overtime format "real hockey."
Quenneville gave a sly smile before he answered, "It is now."
That's the new reality players and coaches will face this season as the NHL attempts to cut down on games that end in shootouts.
For those who like wide-open ice with a lot of breakaways, 3-on-3 hockey is for you. But for purists who don't like shootouts, the gimmicky aspect of 3-on-3 to decide who gets the second point in overtime likely won't stifle their complaints.
And they would have a point.
In practice, 3-on-3 looks nothing like traditional hockey. The ice is about as wide open as Packers receivers against the Bears secondary, significantly more so than 4-on-4, with odd-man rushes the norm.
Judging by the American Hockey League's results, the NHL should dramatically reduce the number of shootouts.
The AHL, which adopted a seven-minute overtime last season (4-on-4 for three minutes, then 3-on-3), saw just 23.8 percent of games that went to overtime end in shootouts, compared with 64.7 percent the season before, according to statistics cited in the Hockey News.
By comparison, 56.5 percent of NHL games that went to overtime (135 of 239) ended in shootouts last season.
The challenge for coaches is deciding what kind of personnel to put on the ice. Do you go with three forwards? Two defensemen and a forward? Two forwards and a defenseman? Or even three defensemen?
Quenneville is still trying to figure that out. In Tuesday's exhibition game against the Red Wings, he went with two forwards and a defenseman with Trevor Daley scoring the winning goal.
"We're trying to sort it all out," Quenneville said. "Is there going to be more quality scoring chances than 4-on-4? Likely. So that's the entertainment part for the league and for the fans to enjoy.
"How we want to defend it is what the players are starting to ask. How do we want to play in our own end? How do we want to play different situations and how do we want to get set groups?"
For the players, it means adjusting how to attack the net when settled in an opponent's zone and how to defend their own zone with so much open space for the opponent to operate.
"One shift we feel like we have momentum and we're getting close and it doesn't go in, and all of a sudden it doesn't happen and it goes the other way," captain Jonathan Toews said. "That's what you need: Try to be as smart as you can, wait for that one break that you get when you have some skill on the ice."
This can be a nightmare for goalies. Hawks backup Scott Darling saw Tuesday the kind of chaos 3-on-3 can create.
"Once it breaks open, you've just got to make a big save and then hope it goes down the other way and hope we (score)," Darling said. "I've seen some games where the goalies just went save for save for save, and it can get pretty exciting."
Goaltender Corey Crawford wouldn't say if it qualifies as "real" hockey but added: "It's more hockey than a shootout, right?"
Even if some of the breakaways during 3-on-3 resemble shootouts.
The NHL has shown it is willing to tinker with the overtime format, and if fans don't like what they're seeing, the league will try something new. But for now, get used to 3-on-3 hockey -- or whatever you'd like to call it.
Based on early returns, fans can expect breathless hockey and fewer shootouts.
"That's my guess," Toews said. "Unless the goalies stand on their heads and they stop 2-on-1s or 3-on-1s. ... I think it's great. It gives us a chance to finish with the players on the ice."
Just not a lot of them.
chine@tribpub.com
