Shutout
In team sports, a
shutout (a
clean sheet in
soccer) refers to a game in which one team wins without allowing the opposing team to score. While always theoretically possible, in some sports, such as
basketball, they are practically impossible.
They are seen as a result of effective defensive play even though a weak opposing offense may be as much to blame. Some sports credit individual players, particularly
goalkeepers and
starting pitchers, with shutouts and keep track of them as statistics; others do not.
If the starting
pitcher can pitch the entire game without giving up a run he earns a
complete game shutout. The currect record holder for most career shutouts is
Walter Johnson with 110; the current active leader is
Roger Clemens with 48 (tied with
Kid Nichols for 25th all-time).
Though less than half of Johnson's record, Clemens' total is not likely to be reached by anyone else for a long time if at all as even star pitchers rarely earn more than 1 or 2 shutouts per season today with the heavy emphasis on pitch counts and
relief pitching. This causes pitchers to frequently be taken out of the game in the 7th or 8th inning even though the opposing team hasn't scored a run. For a pitcher to get a complete game shutout today, it usually means either he threw an unusually low number of pitches, or a large amount of runs were scored by the pitcher's own team (allowing them to give the pitcher a "chance" to complete the game on his own), or the team has a need that day to keep an unusually overworked bullpen rested if possible. A good example is with young pitcher
Chien-Ming Wang of the
New York Yankees. On
August 2,
2006 against the
Toronto Blue Jays he had a very good chance at achieving a shutout in two consecutive starts, an extremely rare feat today. However, despite a commanding 7-0 lead, he was taken out after 8 innings due to a combination of a high pitch count and unusually hot weather during the game.
The term can also be used, however, to describe periods of time longer or shorter than one game. For instance, the efforts of a relief
pitcher could be described as "three shutout innings" or a
pitcher may have pitched a shutout over the "past 22 innings" (slightly over two full games.) See also:
no-hitter and
perfect game.
In
ice hockey, a
shutout is given to a team whose
goaltender successfully prevents the other team from scoring and plays the entire game. The current record holder for most regular season career shutouts is
Terry Sawchuk with 103 (See
All-Time Regular Season Shutouts).
NHL Complications
For the 2005/2006
National Hockey League regular season the NHL adopted
NHL Rule 89(b) shoot out format. If the game remains tied after 60 minutes regulation time have elapsed (a condition often referred to as a
regulation tie), a short five minute sudden death
overtime (OT) is played four-on-four (with one fewer skater on each side, which opens up the ice and promotes scoring). If the five minute OT does not determine a winner, the game goes into
shoot out (SO). While the shoot out has been widely adopted in European leagues and
International Hockey it was long resisted by conservative voices in Canada and America as an inferior method to end a hockey game.
In the first round of the shoot-out, each team is granted three shooters. The shooters alternate between teams. Like baseball, the game ends as soon as the outcome is certain. For example, if one team scores with both of their first shots and the other team is denied (does not score) on both of their first two shots, the game will end immediately because the outcome is certain, without the third shooters on either team getting a shot. If the shoot-out remains tied after the first three shooters on each team, the shoot-out enters a sudden-death format, with each round granting each team one more shooter.
Once the shoot-out is decided, the winning team is awarded a goal as part of their score. However, much like an empty-net goal, this goal does not count against the goaltender losing the shoot-out.
A shut-out shared between two goaltenders on the same team is credited to neither - the shut-out is only credited as a team shut-out. This happened in the NHL as recently as 1982-1983 when the
Washington Capitals Al Jensen and
Pat Riggin shared a shutout.
In the exceptionally rare circumstance that a game ends in a regulation tie with a score of 0-0 (a double regulation shut-out), the shoot-out will result in the opposing goaltenders being awarded a shutout in a scoreless game decided in the shootout. This is true
even if the winning goaltender allowed shoot-out goals. Such a case happened for the first time
December 6 when the
Calgary Flames and
Philadelphia Flyers were scoreless through regulation and overtime.
Mike Richards scored on
Mikka Kiprusoff in the shoot-out, but both Kiprusoff and Philadelphia goaltender
Antero Nittymaki were credited with shut-outs. Nittymaki did not allow a shoot-out goal.
Interestingly, a combination of the two scenarios is possible. In rare cases, teams send out their backup goaltender to face the shoot-out. Believing that rookie goaltender
Mike Morrison 5-0 record in shoot-outs indicated he would be more effective than starter
Ty Conklin,
Craig MacTavish sent Morrison in off the bench for Conklin
March 6 2006 to face the
Dallas Stars. However, the Stars scored on both attempts and the Oilers were blanked on both their attempts. Dallas won the game 4-3. However, this was not a shut-out game for Conklin, and Morrison was credited with the regulation tie despite not having played a minute in regulation time.
Only the NHL head office knows for certain whether the goaltender who achieved the shut-out in regulation would be officially awarded a shut-out if his team's back-up goaltender enters the game and wins the shoot-out.
In
soccer, this is known as a
clean sheet. In association football in Great Britain, a "clean sheet" is attributed to a team (or their
goalkeeper) when they play an entire match without conceding a goal.
The term first appeared in the
1930s and it derived from sports reporting in which the reporter would use separate pieces of paper to record different events of the game. If one team does not let in a goal, then that team's "details of goals conceded" column would appear blank, hence leaving a clean sheet. For example, two
teams are playing (Team A and Team B), Team A win 4-0, they keep the clean sheet whereas Team B have conceded 4 goals, they do not.
A shutout in (American)
football is a fairly common occurrence, happening about once a season. In the 2005 season, the
New York Jets suffered a 27-0 loss to the
Denver Broncos. Several gambling assossiations which allow people to place bets on football games offer the promise that, if your team is shutout, your money will be refunded despite the fact that they were not victorious.
*
Football (soccer) clean sheet statistics
