The CBC's Don Cherry on this week's "Coach's Corner" speculated NHL players "will not go to South Korea" to participate in the '18 Pyeongchang Games. He said, "I would bet the farm on it. Why should they go? Three weeks -- what, grow the sport in Asia? Who is kidding who?" He added, "It’s okay for the players, they go over and have a vacation. Think of the owners in that." But the net's Ron MacLean said, "Everybody gets a connection. I think the fans in Canada, the fans in the United States, get a great, emotional connection to the players." MacLean added, "I think that the Olympic Games is a great opportunity for the players. The fans love it. And why would you give that up?" Cherry replied, "It's okay for you, you’re not the guy that’s got all the money invested! ... The owners are nuts if they go over to South Korea" ("HNIC," CBC, 3/1).
IS THE SHOOTOUT STALE? The HOCKEY NEWS' Ken Campbell wrote under the header, "It's Time To Shoot The Shootout In The NHL." He wrote, "When the shootout was established in an effort to liven up the game after Lockout-Part-II-of-III, you wouldn’t have found a bigger proponent of it than yours truly. ... I thought that anything that added excitement to the game would be a step in the right direction. And for a couple years, things were good. But when I watch games now, I find myself tapping away at my computer rather than watching the shootout proceedings. They’ve kind of become for me what overtime in the playoffs used to be." Campbell: "When the shootout was established, I was envisioning star-on-star action. And, for the most part, what we’re getting is a conga line of players who only seem to be able to score when they take the puck wide or go in on the goalie at snowshoe speed" (THEHOCKEYNEWS.com, 3/2).
