Speeding up the game

I lifted the following from the WCHA preview at USCHO.com:

St. Cloud State coach Craig Dahl, a proponent of making games shorter — even suggesting that games could go down to two 25-minute periods — said it would be interesting to see that rule in play in college hockey.

Wha? I'd have to say that I do not like that 25 minute idea at all. Close game and you're playing the last few critical moments on ice that has another 5 minutes worth of chop? Speed up the game, fine, but why would I want less game action? (BTW, the "rule" mentioned above is the quick faceoff being used in the Olympics --see the article for an explanation.)

I have no problem with trying to speed up the game in the sense of eliminating some of the wasted time that occurs during stoppages. But then again, without TV there doesn't seem to be that much wasted time in college hockey, or at least ECAC. The idea of shortening the game to 2 25 minute periods just seems stupid to me.

I think the 3 20 minute period structure of hockey is perfect. I don't think that "less game" counts as "speeding up the game" anyway. Sounds like a stupid not-serious suggestion.

In the early '90s, Hockey East gave serious consideration to playing their conference games as two 25-minute periods, so there is sort of a precedent for this kind of thing. Thankfully, saner heads prevailed and the idea was voted down before the start of the season.

Forget speeding up the game. Is there any way someone could speed up that long stretch from Saturday at 10 pm to Friday at 7 pm???

Amen, Robb. How about 4 days of 20 hours?

Well, "less game" = "speeding up the game" worked for the NFL.