One of the beautiful things about the so-called "blogger revolution" is that I think it has helped me become a much more educated fan of the game. Instead of being forced to read the same score-stat-quote template article a million times from mainstream media outlets, I can gain a lot of valuable information, and read things I wouldn't have necessarily known in a relatively short period of time.
The best example of this for me is the Big Ten Wonk. In five minutes, I can be up to date on everything of value that is going on in the Big Ten basketball world.
What does all this have to do with college hockey? Well, one of the things that I have found to be incredibly informative is Wonk's use of tempo-free stats. For the uninitiated, tempo-free stats use ratios and formulas to objectively compare player performance. The easiest examples of this would be free throw percentage, or yards per carry in football. They really give a much more accurate picture of what is going on by saying who is the most efficient rather than who has the best raw numbers.
So my challenge to you in the college hockey community, is how can we apply this to the sport of hockey? Is there any way to come up with a formula that more objectively compares players?
One way I was thinking was to compare a player's goals against the total goals in the league. That might help to compare performances of a player in the high-scoring BCHL as opposed to a more defensive league like the USHL. It probably wouldn't help a lot in college hockey though.
I realize it's difficult because college hockey stats are pretty limited. I'd love to hear whatever suggestions people had though, because I think we could come up with some interesting ways to analyze the game better.
The best example of this for me is the Big Ten Wonk. In five minutes, I can be up to date on everything of value that is going on in the Big Ten basketball world.
What does all this have to do with college hockey? Well, one of the things that I have found to be incredibly informative is Wonk's use of tempo-free stats. For the uninitiated, tempo-free stats use ratios and formulas to objectively compare player performance. The easiest examples of this would be free throw percentage, or yards per carry in football. They really give a much more accurate picture of what is going on by saying who is the most efficient rather than who has the best raw numbers.
So my challenge to you in the college hockey community, is how can we apply this to the sport of hockey? Is there any way to come up with a formula that more objectively compares players?
One way I was thinking was to compare a player's goals against the total goals in the league. That might help to compare performances of a player in the high-scoring BCHL as opposed to a more defensive league like the USHL. It probably wouldn't help a lot in college hockey though.
I realize it's difficult because college hockey stats are pretty limited. I'd love to hear whatever suggestions people had though, because I think we could come up with some interesting ways to analyze the game better.