Feb 16, 2013 | SCorrigan | 1375 views
Statistics
Rather than comment on the games this week I prefer to focus on the statistics that I record on this website. (Flyers nation, I am not dodging the fact you had a great win this week over the Sharks). I have chosen to do so since several people were sincere enough to share concerns and raise questions with me about the stats. I appreciate that some coaches have tried to defend my good intentions but
the onus lies on me to answer all parents (whether they like what I have
to say or not). As a result, I thought it best to clear up the air immediately.
First, the numbers come from the game sheets that I receive from House League regular season games, OHL Experience games, the Christmas tournament and other sanctioned tournaments. I do not record the goals, the assists and the penalties that you find on these score sheets. Parent volunteers - your peers - do the recording. Since the beginning of the year and at times throughout I have encouraged the score keepers to be generous and look to give that assist and second assist that the referees may miss. Our referees, after all, are still learning their craft. Some score keepers do, some do not, but I will not chastise volunteers. Indeed, I welcome all volunteers since the league relies upon them.
There have been times during the year that a coach or a parent has emailed, sent video or simply called me to point out a referee assigned a goal to the wrong person. I have never "taken away" a goal from the child originally credited with a goal, but I also have acceded to these requests to add a goal to another player since they are almost always from a family whose child has scored their first goal (or seldom scores) and not from a child that scores say 20. I want as many kids as possible to find their way on to the score sheet, since for many it builds self esteem and confidence.
Second, in hindsight, I wish I had added a filter that prohibited families from viewing the statistics of other teams. I think this is where many of the misconceptions arise. The attempt to compare one team with another is simply misguided. All teams are competitive in our league but not all teams are equal in terms of talent. This is often borne out in the style of play and the types of goals teams score. More telling though is that some teams have played more games than others, primarily due to tournaments.
Indeed, tournaments is a major factor that proves that the stats are only relevant when viewing a team in isolation as opposed to in comparison. In our league, for instance, there is considerable parity with the average score being 5-3. Thus, the statistics for the Leafs and Flyers are low in comparison with all other teams because they have yet to play in a single tournament. The Habs only played their first one this weekend, so there numbers will show some increases. For the Bruins and Penguins their tournament experience is highly relevant. They both played in the same one and it was a Atom aged tournament. Without the separation of Major and Minor both teams were in tough against very stiff competition. The opportunities to record blow outs and inflate their statistics were simply not there. Yet a few of the Penguin players for instance are participating as alternates for other teams and that will add to their individual numbers. In complete contrast with all other teams, the Sharks have played in two tournaments already (including this weekend) that were just Minor Atom classified. More to the point is that they have run in to some very weak teams and have had recorded 6 wins already that had double digit scores. Additionally they have scheduled exhibition games with teams outside of Cambridge. Therefore there is no value in comparing Sharks stats with say Leafs, or Penguins with Flyers and so on.
These stats were never intended as a comparison between players on different teams. NEVER. If they had been, I would have simply published top 10 or top 20 lists. I can not fairly do that based on the different experiences of each team and stopped any such attempt by around week 3 or 4 when I realized the experiences would vary so greatly. I think this is a point many have not understood. But I was also naive in not spelling this out early in the season. Providing stats satisfies those families that love to see such things - those that do not simply do not have to look at them. More importantly to me, for many players it allows them a statistical guide to compare their Novice achievements with their Minor Atom achievements, and possibly set expectations for Major Atom next season.
There is an adage that stats do not lie - and I agree to a point - but stats also do not tell the whole story. Any coach worth their salt will explain to their players that individual stats are worthless when compared to the success or failure of their team. I am absolutely certain every head coach and assistant coach in Minor Atom would mirror those sentiments. Indeed, as coaches we are all well aware that the limited stats we have fail to identify some of the best players in our league. For instance, how many goalies are the best player on their respective team? I suspect more than just the 10 goalie families might agree that a goalie is the backbone of any team. Then there are the super talented players who have been tasked by their coach to help mentor a developing player - there are 2 or 3 examples of this phenomenon on every team. That mentorship undeniably takes away points from those players but hardly diminishes their value - to the contrary, those players are true MVPs. With my own team the Sharks this is abundantly true; several of our best players are not the top point getters because they are mentors and they take that responsibility seriously (which is amazing for 9 and 10 year olds). Then there are the crop of amazing stay at home defensemen, for which our league has an abundance, who can shut down offensive players. Those skills do not show up in the points column but are reflected in a teams goals against and ultimately in the win column.
Therefore, moving forward, I suggest that people that are interested in tracking the stats focus on their own team. The coaches are certainly not comparing players based on these stats, so the parents should not either.