IIHF reportedly moving away from World Juniors medal game shootouts

We’re just a week out from Canada and the United States playing in one of the most exciting World Juniors games of all time. And it seems the result is already prompting some changes in the tournament’s format.

As you’ll recall, the United States won on a shootout goal from Troy Terry and a save from goalie Tyler Parsons. Shootouts are commonplace in the NHL, but only during the regular season. It’s a skills competition, and no meaningful playoff game would end that way.

Apparently, the International Ice Hockey Federation agrees. TSN’s Darren Dreger reports that the IIHF is considering how to end future World Juniors medal games without shootouts. Dreger notes that the officials involved in the discussions are from “both Canada and the United States.”

Among the potential scenarios Dreger describes is a hybrid overtime period. The first 10 minutes would be 5-on-5 or 4-on-4, followed by 10 minutes of 3-on-3 if nobody scores. Whether that’s the scenario officially on the table or Dreger extrapolating is unclear.

Last season, the NHL adopted a 3-on-3 overtime format in a similar effort to avoid games ending in the shootout. The result was immediate and effective: the amount of games that reached a shootout dropped from 55.2 percent in 2014-15 to 38.9 percent in 2015-16.

Though no one would begrudge the World Juniors change if it went through, the timing is worth bringing up. It’s no secret Canada is a prideful hockey country, and it hosts the World Juniors essentially every other year, including in 2019 and 2021. The United States hosts the tournament next year.

The timing begs the question: Would this angst about shootouts in gold medal games be boiling up a week afterward if A) the Canadians had won or B) if either the U.S. or Canada weren’t involved in the gold medal game shootout?

The answer is probably no, but perhaps that’s not a bad thing if it means pushing the shootout out of the picture.