When a rhinoceros sees a fire in the jungle, it stomps it out. It protects the rest of the landscape from going ablaze and falling into ashes, protecting the land where it and everything else. The rhino will not allow the jungle to be burned!

Why is this in the sports section you ask? Last Sunday, I saw something so amazing, but if it spread, it would be just plain bad–an institution would fall to ashes.

That institution is penalty shots.

This year’s NHL All-Star game was decided by penalty shots, which was cool. It was the All-Star game, it was absolutely mesmerizing to see guys squaring off like it was high noon, but the outcome didn’t matter because it was an exhibition. We could watch this fire, then watch it go away; it won’t spread … or will it?

After the game Barry Melrose, was praising the excitement of it all and said it should be used in the regular season. What! The regular season. Why?

Sure it has a practical use. It would finally end the tie rule in hockey, but isn’t that just one of the things about hockey that just makes it hockey? Where some sports can go on forever, like basketball or baseball, hockey just ends, at least in the regular season.

It is not until the playoffs where we stay up until sunrise to watch a west coast playoff game, then get to say, “Dude, did you see the end of that game?” and your friend says no, and you get to say, “You missed a great one.”

Any die-hard Blues fan will be able to tell you where he was when Steve Yzerman ripped one past John Casey.

Where am I going with this?

Remember when the Blues almost beat the Red Wings that year? It was because the team played great. Same goes for any other team that just succeeds by the skin of their teeth, like the Carolina Hurricanes or Hartford Whalers (the sport doesn’t just belong below the Mason-Dixon or as it’s known today, the I-HOP-Waffle House line) got to the Stanley Cup Finals.

Hockey is truly a team sport. Sure it’s nice to have a superstar goalie, but not just one man dominates the game. Penalty shots would take that away from the game.

Imagine if you will, that the Blues are playing the Red Wings, again, and they tie. All through the game the Blues played great–got off plenty of shots, didn’t allow many, skated hard and played tough, physical defense.

Under the current rules, both teams would take a point and accept the tie.

They played hard and nobody really won, but some people can’t take the tie. Someone has to win, they just can’t shake hands and walk off the ice, so you want penalty shots!

Well, the Red Wings get to bring Yzerman, Brett Hull, Brendan Shanahan, Sergi Fedorov, plus Curtis Joseph in the net. Is this fair? No. These are some of the best shooters in hockey, and for 60 minutes of blood, sweat and tears to come down to how well Brent Johnson or Fred Brathwaite play against four of the greatest players ever is a crime.

Plus, it’s just one of the traditional rules of hockey to end in a tie. The NFL brought a lot of extra rules to the game, and there seems to be a stoppage in the game every other down. Bill Cower even had to explain to a referee in a playoff game the official rules.

Before that, the NBA made a Shaq-tailored “no charging zone” under the basket. All we got to see then was Shaq push around some victim and get the most boring form of basketball ever.

Don’t mess with a good thing. Hockey has all sorts of unwritten, gentlemanly and not-so-gentlemanly rules. For example, one knows that you just don’t mess with another team’s pretty-boy shooter.

A couple years ago, Jeremy Roenick took Mike Modano to the boards and injured the guy for a couple weeks.

When the Stars met the Coyotes in Dallas a few weeks later, Darian Hatcher decided to try and put Roenick’s head in the first row of seats. Hatcher failed, but broke Roenick’s jaw in the process and put him out for the season.

Some things just define sports, no matter how big or small, and sometimes a little idea or some gimmick ruins it all. Fans shouldn’t allow some flash in the pan to end a fun game. Instituting penalty shots would only sell the game out in order to make it more appealing.

As with any sport, the tradition makes the game, and some new-fangled idea to make it more “exciting” would ruin it.

What’s next, the three-point goal?