QMJHL adopting 3-on-3 overtime, emulating the NHL's move

No one really likes shootouts having an impact on playoff position to an extent that is out of proportion to their actual importance, which was the reasoning behind the National Hockey League losing a skater per side by adopting 3-on-3 overtime.

Since major junior is self-styled as a feeder league to the next level, it is probably just a matter of when all three circuits within the Canadian Hockey League follow suit. On Thursday, Quebec Remparts beat writer Kathleen Lavoie of Le Soleil reported that, indeed, the QMJHL will break out the full-five-minutes 3-on-3 format this season. The Q starts training camps some three weeks earlier than the OHL and WHL, so it's not surprising it would be first.

For anyone wondering, 17.8 per cent of 2014-15 QMJHL regular-season games were tied after three regulation periods, requiring overtime. Of those 109 games, 47, or 43.1 per cent, had a goal scorer.

In indirect contrast, the American Hockey League had 75 per cent of ties broken in the sudden-victory session in 2014-15. it it employed the hybrid format: a seven-minute period commencing with three minutes of 4-on-4 play, then shifting to 3-on-3 after the first whistle.

It's tough to extrapolate what effect the change will have in the percentage of overtime games are decided by a goal-goal, so to speak. Five minutes of open ice play is a huge slew of time for a team to sustain the structural integrity of its game, especially when the benches are shortened so skill players are used. Going directly to 3-on-3 is also simpler to understand. It doesn't take a diehard CFL fan to know it can be problematic to engage fans when the league has different rules from the hegemonic one in the sport.

The change doesn't address the problem of three-point games, but at least it's a start. Anecdotally, if not empirically, an overtime regular-season win always feels more legitimate than a shootout win.

South of the border, the USHL is adopting the seven-minute hybrid overtime. That is also employed a couple of Junior A leagues in Canada.

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Neate Sager is a writer for Yahoo! Canada Sports. Follow him on Twitter @naitSAYger.