Green argues that games as big as Sunday's gold medal final should be decided at five-on-five until someone scores.
When the greatest hockey nation in the world loses two gold medal games in the same Winter Olympics, and both finals are decided in the same gimmicky, arcade-mode of three-on-three overtime, there's bound to be some serious discussion about whether that's an appropriate way to decide the world's biggest hockey games.
While exciting, three-on-three makes hockey an entirely different sport, and its existence in an Olympic gold medal game is no less absurd than deciding the Super Bowl winner with a seven-on-seven overtime.
You can count Senators head coach Travis Green among the format's many detractors.
"I'm not sure I've heard a hockey person tell me otherwise that they think (games of that magnitude) should be three on three," Green told the media on Monday. "I'm guessing it'll be something that they'll end up talking about. But I, personally, think it should just be played five on five until someone wins."
Amen to that.
Green said he felt the same way last year before the 4 Nations Face-off tournament, where Canada won the final in the 3-on-3. What Green is a fan of was the high-calibre play in Sunday's Olympic final.
"Man, what a game," Green said. "You hope that you see a good game, you expect to see a good game. When you have, I think it was pretty obvious they were the two best teams in the tournament.
"I thought Canada dominated the play probably a little bit more than I thought they would, I thought Hellebuyck was outstanding. Both teams played extremely hard, there wasn't a lot of room on the ice.
"A lot of people think there's gonna be a lot of offence in these games, and because of their capabilities, there's less offence because of how hard they defend and how much they care. I thought both teams put on a great show, and one team's gotta win."
Green's Olympians are now starting to arrive back in Ottawa.
Lars Eller, who answered the call for Team Denmark, skated at Sens practice on Monday. Green says the rest of the Senators Olympians are expected to be available for the first game out of the break this Thursday at the CTC against the Detroit Red Wings.
Steve Warne
The Hockey News
This article is from The Hockey News' Ottawa Senators site. Read more at THN Ottawa at the links below:
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