Globe, Herald Are Tied in Slapping NHL ‘Loser Point’

January 15, 2017

It’s always pleasant when the scribes align at the two Boston dailies, and today is one of those instances. The point of agreement? The NHL system of awarding two points to the winner of an overtime game and one to the loser.

The loser point.

The Boston Globe’s Kevin Paul Dupont and the Boston Herald’s Stephen Harris crosscheck the league’s overtime policy as a leading cause of the stunning amount of mediocre hockey currently on display in NHL games. Under the headline “NHL’s ‘loser point’ never a winning idea,” Dupont writes:

Its existence routinely makes the game action worse, detracts from the entertainment factor, part of a much broader struggle in a sport where the E-factor has taken humongous hits in recent years with the near-eradication of fighting and the lack of goal scoring.

The problem is, coaches coach to the loser point, something not seen in any other sport. And for good reason. It’s awful.

 

Harris doesn’t like the loser point any better. But he notes the possibility of adopting the European soccer and hockey approach.

•    In games decided in regulation, the winner receives three points, the loser gets zero.

•    A team that wins in overtime of any sort — sudden-death or shootout — earns two points.

•    The team that loses in extra time gets one point.

Just imagine the value of wins in regulation — and the motivation that would provide for players to give their all, and not simply hang on until OT.

 

Maybe . . . depending on the standings, yeah?

But Dupont’s not buying it: “One common remedy offered to prevent such third-period “failure to engage” would be to award 3 points for a regulation win, 2 for an OT win, 1 for an OT loss. Count me out, if only on the basis of muddling through the already confusing standings.”

How about this: Two points for an overtime win, no points for an overtime loss. You know – old school. Just a thought.

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Globe, Not Herald, Seguin What Tyler Tweeted

July 8, 2013

Last time now-former Boston Bruin Tyler Seguin got all homophobic on his Twitter feed, the Boston Herald beat the Globe on the story. This time it’s the other way around.

From Christopher Gasper’s column today:

Bruins gave up on Tyler Seguin too soon

seguin-big-7565

If Tyler Seguin is as good at shutting down his Twitter account as he was at getting shut out on the scoresheet in the playoffs then his days of 140-character missives are — like his days donning the Spoked-B — done.

Both the Bruins and Twitter being Seguin-free seem like good ideas right now, quick fixes to aggravating problems. But they might prove rash overreactions in the end. Professional athletes have to learn how to deal with the consequences of celebrity in the social media age and patience has to be shown with a potential franchise player whose talent level far exceeds his maturity level.

The Bruins gave up on Seguin too soon, trading him July 4 to the Dallas Stars and confining him to the dustbin of failed face-of-the-franchise forwards along with Joe Thornton and Phil Kessel after just three seasons . . .

 

And then, this: “For a player who never liked to take a lot of hits on the ice, Seguin is sure absorbing them off it. The latest one came Saturday night when a tweet from his Twitter account said, ‘Only steers and queers in Texas, and I’m not a cow.'”

The Stars, of course, immediately shifted into damage control while Seguin claimed his Twitter feed was hacked. Either way, he’s gone social-media silent.

As was today’s Herald on the topic. Stephen Harris looks at Seguin’s exit, but without the tweet heat.

Suffice to say, teams don’t quit on 21-year-old No. 2 overall draft choices with the brilliant skills of Seguin unless they have very good reasons. The team deserves some blame for not doing a better job of supervising Seguin. In times past, teenagers like Stephane Quintal, Joe Thornton and Patrice Bergeron were placed with area families who offered them the same sort of stability and control they used with their own children.

It sure sounds like the Seguin-Bruins story could have had a happier ending if that had been done with this kid when he first came to Boston at age 18. But it was not. So you get the reports of underage partying, the online photos of dancing on the bar, the fast cars, the messy apartment, etc., and you get a ticket on the next plane to Dallas.

 

The feisty local tabloid does have an AP story on its website now, but that only counts in horseshoes.

 

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