John Tortorella calls for the end of the shoot out with very strong comments.

I do not know if it is simply a product of me getting older or if it is a product of veteran National Hockey League head coach John Tortorella getting wiser and softer in his older age but I find myself agreeing with Tortorella more and more these days in a way that I genuinely never thought I would when the brash and arrogant head coach first started making waves at the NHL level.

Well whatever the actual reason may this week has once again provided me an opportunity in which I find myself nodding in agreement as Tortorella speaks and this time it is on the topic of one of the most controversial aspects of the modern day in the National Hockey League, I am of course referring to the shootout. The Tortorella led Columbus Blue Jackets were set to face off against the Edmonton Oilers on Saturday afternoon and as you would expect given the timing of the game the media made it's usual rounds pressing the coaches and players for comments ahead, during and after the only game on the NHL schedule at that time today.

For the most part it was the generic affair that you would expect of such standard media coverage but there was one question that Tortorella really seemed to nail on the head and he did so with an answer that appears to quickly be garnering a lot of attention. Not only are Tortorella's remarks drawing a lot of attention but they also seem to have very quickly garnered a lot of fan support with most seemingly being very quick indeed to agree with the veteran bench boss.

Tortorella was asked about the current state of the National Hockey League's overtime as well as how it currently breaks ties during the NHL's regular season games and he made his opinion very clear. Tortorella went so far as to say that he would rather watch the players play 3 on 3 overtime until they keeled over and died on the ice than have to be subjected to another shootout. Now obviously he does not mean this literally, but it made for an amazing sound bite and one that speaks to many fans who are sick of the shootout.

[pub]