February 2 2011 Last updated at 10:40 AM ET
A couple of weeks ago our Chris Botta argued that, sooner or later, a goalie that is tired of being burned by the suddenly played out (but almost always successful) spin-o-rama move will simply crash the party and take out a skater. And maybe he's right. It would certainly add another level of excitement to the shootout, if nothing else.On Tuesday night in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Florida Panthers forward David Booth was the latest player to show off the move by beating Jean-Sebastien Giguere with relative ease. As is always pointed out by somebody when this move is used, it's technically against the rules of the shootout/penalty shot because the puck isn't always moving forward (Rule 24). But there is also a clause in the rule that specifically allows the move to be performed because it involves a continuous motion. Should the rule be changed to ban the move? I don't know, that seems like a pretty drastic step.
As I've argued before, if the NHL is going to allow 65 minutes of hockey to be decided by a skills competition it kind of defeats the purpose to start eliminating skills because they're too good. Isn't that the point? If you start banning moves that are too good the shootout should be done away with (and I say that as somebody that enjoys watching the shootout simply for the entertainment value -- Even if I'm not really a fan of a tie game being decided that way).
Anyway, here's a look at Booth's goal from Tuesday night...
Even though Booth's goal will make the highlights, Toronto won the shootout thanks to goals from Tyler Bozak and Colby Armstrong. The win snapped what had been a three-game losing streak for the Leafs and was just their second win in the past eight games.
Source: http://nhl.fanhouse.com/2011/02/02/david-booth-latest-to-show-spin-o-rama-is-unstoppable/
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