The previous two days of Olympic hockey have offered a number of thrilling and dramatic finishes throughout each the lads’s and ladies’s tournaments.
Wednesday’s quarterfinal motion within the males’s match noticed Canada, the US and Finland all advance to the medal spherical with additional time wins.
On Thursday, Switzerland took bronze within the girls’s match with a 2-1 upset additional time win in opposition to Sweden, after which the US capped off its third gold medal with an exhilarating 2-1 additional time win in opposition to Canada that noticed them tie the sport late, and then win with a highlight reel goal from Megan Keller.
The drama? Unimaginable.
The storylines? Unbelievable.
There was just one factor that took a few of the steam away from all of it — the 3-on-3 additional time format that the IIHF now makes use of to resolve tie video games.
Olympic medals shouldn’t be determined by 3-on-3 hockey
This isn’t the primary time 3-on-3 hockey has been utilized within the Olympics as a tiebreaker, however it’s getting essentially the most consideration within the 2026 video games for 2 major causes: The NHL gamers are taking part within the males’s match for the primary time since 2014, whereas two medals within the girls’s match have been determined with it.
The IIHF has been utilizing 3-on-3 additional time in IIHF World Championship and Olympic video games since 2019, however have not actually seen it in as many huge moments the place essentially the most doable eyes shall be on it.
Not as many individuals watch the World Championships in comparison with the Olympics, and now we’re seeing medals determined by it.
Males’s Olympic hockey curiosity dwindled with out the NHL gamers within the 2022 video games.
Due to these two components, it is going to get consideration now.
Whereas 3-on-3 hockey is a extra wide-open recreation, and tends to be wildly thrilling, it looks as if a gimmicky method to resolve the most important video games.
And that’s as a result of it’s a gimmick.
It is not the identical type of hockey as 5-on-5, and it is a dramatically completely different twist from what you get throughout regulation or common 5-on-5 hockey. Bizarre bounces, fluky performs and random moments play a much bigger function in 3-on-3 than merely being the higher group.
It is tougher to apply. It is tougher to organize for. It is tougher to teach.
The NHL has used 3-on-3 additional time to interrupt ties in regular-season video games for just a few years now. That was accomplished not solely to make additional time extra thrilling, but in addition to extend the chances {that a} group wins in additional time and prevents video games from attending to a shootout.
They don’t use 3-on-3 additional time within the playoffs. They merely play as many 20-minute, 5-on-5 durations as vital to interrupt the tie.
Whereas that won’t have the identical form of back-and-forth pleasure as 3-on-3, it does current a distinct kind of drama and intrigue. It additionally feels such as you’re watching the identical recreation, with the identical stress you had been expecting the earlier 60 minutes.
It creates extra of a possibility for the higher group to ultimately prevail as an alternative of a fortunate bounce or break figuring out it. There’s additionally the drama and intrigue that comes from a double-or triple-overtime recreation retaining you on the sting of your seat for 5 or 6 hours. Time-consuming? Doubtlessly. Nevertheless it is likely to be essentially the most traumatic and dramatic watch in main North American sports activities.
This format takes away a whole lot of that pleasure.
It will be one factor to make use of it within the group stage of the match. However in potential elimination video games it simply looks as if an enormous whiff by the IIHF.
You would not resolve the Tremendous Bowl with 7-on-7 soccer.
You would not resolve the Stanley Cup with a 3-on-3 additional time.
You should not resolve Olympic gold with it, both.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version=’2.0′;
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,’script’,
‘https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js’);
fbq(‘init’, ‘1324276914788316’);
fbq(‘track’, ‘PageView’);
