Players, stats, coaches and we the fans: the relationship between the four

A somewhat tepid video was released by the Sens a few days ago, asking various members of the team to describe certain hockey terms in three words or less. This produced the expected awkward pauses as the poor players chosen to be questioned had to reframe the term chosen in the unfamiliar context (i.e. a three-word-or-under synonym), and there were also the usual tiny gems of insight into a hockey player's mind where they were least expected. For example, when Lehner was given the term "top cheese", he said, "High glove", providing an interesting glimpse at the way a goalie thinks about various types of shots — namely, how to save them, rather than how to deliver them.

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The losing record and the afternoon games: a fairytale

That sounds rather nice as a storybook title, doesn’t it? Now, before I claim that the afternoon loss is a myth, it must be said upfront that I have no actual insight into the ways which the team gets ready differently for afternoon games; I don’t know who gets up late, who eats differently and who skips the team warm-up. Instead, I decided to take a look at the previous afternoon performances of the team and see how much of the story that 1-7-2 losing record tells.

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To think about: are the Sens inconsistent, or just bad?

For perhaps the entirety of the 2013-14 season's first half, followers of Ottawa Senators hockey have tossed the word "inconsistency" and its derivatives around like lettuce in a Caesar salad, yours truly included. And just like overtossed salad, the catchphrase has become somewhat limp and dry, with less substance than the no-nonsense carrots and tomatoes garnishing the salad (which, in this analogy, represent the fancy stats). But it seemed relatively accurate; we've reached our first winning streak since November 9th, and somedays, it seems as if our beloved Sens simply don't show up to play.

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Charting the Sens' progression of age vs. games played

A while back, I was musing about the Sens' inexperience and odd age disparity on Twitter when it was pointed out to me that number of games played is a more relevant indicator of experience. So, as a follow-up to the last post, I took a look at the progression of NHL games played versus age among the current active Senators players, excluding goalies.

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Blogging about blogging: the usage & analysis of stats

I would not venture any sort of guess as to when possession statistics and metrics became generally accepted within circles of hockey fans, analysts and personnel. However, #fancystats have so indubitably spread throughout the North American hockey world—at least, online—that one cannot dispute its presence. As a concept that has moved away from being hipster and toward being mainstream, the utilization of various stats in casual fan blogs such as this one has become commonplace, and, on occasion, even necessary to establish or maintain credibility.

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