Reply To: MIT Sloan Sport Analytics Conference Video

[Tom Molloy]

Dean, a lot of your articles can only be read when the coach logs in. The copy and paste function seems to only work then. Maybe if you edit a little then it will show when not logged in.

I am kicking myself for not watching Portland practice last spring. They had a talent id camp 5 minutes from my house. I went and talked with Mike Johnston for a bit but didn't watch them practice. I would love to have seen the music being used etc.

Bob Murdoch used stats when he was with Winnipeg and Chicago and the main one he used was based on decisions every time a player touched the puck. There is a video on this site where he is a guest speaker at my college hockey coaching class. He talks about this stat and the team covenant.

A 5% swing in decisions changes the entire game. Stewart Behie, who has a Doctorate in Engineering took the idea and created a computer program that monitored decisions. We used it at the U of C and it told everything about how effective each player was, how involved in the game and the kind of decisions they made. He took it to HC and showed them but they decided to go with the testing on how fast players skate around pylons and how accurately they shoot while standing still in front of a net.

I remember we were in the Western Finals and Willie Desjardins saw how oftern our top scorer was touching the puck and the decisions that line was making. He met with them between periods with hard data and showed the players. It made a big difference in their performance. It also influenced how we practiced.

Maybe the time has come for this kind of analysis.

'The Game is the Greatest Coach'
'Enjoy the Game'