I Heart Statistics and Other Ramblings...

I should preface this post by saying that I work for UPS and I've had to see this commercial many times, and I don't like it. But if I have to suffer so should others...



But I do like statistics so I will talk about that. First off, bookmark this page. It's UAA's team stats page at collegehockeystats.net and it's always good to look at throughout the year. Let's take a look at the good, the bad, and the ugly:

The Good
The first notable stat of the good? Goals per game is at 3.5, it was 2.42 at the end of last year. Normally this statistic wouldn't mean much this early but UAA have played 2 WCHA teams and 3 ranked teams already and UAA has scored at least 3 goals in each game. That's something noticable.

The other one? SOG per game is 27.2 and is fairly even with opponents SOG per game at 27.5. Gretzky once said "You miss 100% of the shots you don't take". It also means that the games have been fairly even shots wise, which is something that has missing years past. Last years SOG/gm was 24.4, so again improvement.

The Bad
What's bad but not really troubling? The Goaltenders Save Percentage. Chris Kamal's is at .830, not terrible but not good. But it's not really troubling since it's more to do with the defense in front of him and the teams he's played against (North Dakota and Union). I have the feeling it should even out as the year goes on. Gunderson's Save Percentage is at .895, which is getting close to the target of .900 that I feel they should have.

The other bad? Difference in goals scored in the first period. UAA has scored 5 in the first period but opponents have scored 9, a -4 difference. It's a telling stat that the team is falling behind in the first period in every gIn other newsame. That needs to improve. The good news is that the second period difference is +3 (8-5) so the difference is almost made up, almost.

The Ugly
What's ugly? How about PIM/G: 11.8. We're not quite to the 21.2 from last season but with 11.8 PIM/G along with a PPG a game and a 70.6% penalty kill, giving opponents almost 6 PP chances a game is not good. Granted the PIM/G stat is a little thrown off due to Gorham's Game DQ.

The other ugly? A 2 for 16 power play, a lovely 12.5%. The reliance on special teams in hockey these days is greater than ever, and considering the few opportunities that UAA historically gets on the PP, it's an important aspect.


In other news, I've put through tGauntlet over at Runnin' With The Dogs. She should have it up sometime so feel free to take a look.

Also a quick look through my on screen guide informs me that this weekends games will be on TV... just not live. The Friday game looks to replay at 6am on Saturday and the Saturday game at 10am on Sunday. GCI is broadcasting the AFN Convention which takes place during the UAA gametime, so that naturally seems to be the reason why they're not live.