Ohio High School Hockey State Championship Ends With A Tie And Co-Champions

Last week, something quite unusual happened in the sports world.  A championship hockey game ended in a tie.  Okay that may not be so unusual but what if I told you seven overtime periods were played before a tie was declared.

Photo Courtesy of: Wikimedia

kmf164 under CC BY-SA 2.5 License

That was the case in the Ohio High School State Championship between Cleveland St. Ignatius and Sylvania Northview who played to a 1-1 tie and both being named co-champions.  Now you may be thinking why didn't they go to a shootout after say one overtime?  That's because unlike the NHL and other levels of hockey, there are no rules or provisions for a shootout to take place at the high school level.

Using the existing rules that are already in place here are the options I would have considered.  Recognizing concerns for player health and safety, my first option would have been to suspend play until maybe a week later and continue the game from the end of the seventh overtime.  That way players could get enough rest leading up to the resumption of the game.  This option would also allow for a week of festivities and activities geared toward the game's resumption, such as a pep rally.

The second option involves throwing the current high school rules out the window somewhat.

Even though there were no provisions for a shootout to occur, the circumstances of the event should have dictated otherwise.  As the saying goes, there's always a first time for everything.  If I were in charge of making those decisions, I can assure you a shootout would have occurred well before there was a thought of a seventh overtime being played.  I would have limited the game to one overtime and had a shootout take place if there was still a tie at that point.

In any case, this game should not have ended in a tie.  It was the championship game for crying out loud! In the final game of the year for any sport there should be a winner and a loser.  I can say with almost absolute certainty that no athlete, young or professional, wants to be given congratulations on a job well done for a championship that ends in a tie.

Tim Musick
Copyright 2014
All Rights Reserved