Here are some lesser-known pieces of the puzzle for Canada and the U.S., and a few stars who could be crucial to the other national squads. Defense is the forgotten part of the U.S.’s game, largely because of its intermittently powerful offense and strong goaltending. Anne Schleper is … [Read more...]
Yes, Finland Has Some Excellent Players
A discussion has led me to the understanding that I need to be more precise with my wording from the end of the last post. Finland has a lot of very strong position players (although if you look at the rosters posted where I just did they are all Swedes, since the names got switched). A more … [Read more...]
Yes, Finland Has Some Excellent HockeyPlayers
A discussion has led me to the understanding that I need to be more precise with my wording from the end of the last post. Finland has a lot of very strong position players (although if you look at the rosters posted where I just did they are all Swedes, since the names got switched). A … [Read more...]
Sochi, Here We Come
Comparing the top two teams in women’s hockey seems almost useless if sweeping pronouncements and firm predictions are the goals. The attempt to find an edge, however slight, has dominated the rivalry and it results in small swings of momentum but no true separation. Women’s … [Read more...]
Canada Has Failed Its National Hockey Team
In a fairly stunning turn of events, Hockey Canada relieved Dan Church of his job on December 17th. They claim he resigned for personal reasons. But this article makes it seem like it was a hockey decision. That makes zero sense. Church wasn’t a tactical genius. I … [Read more...]
A First Word On New Hockey Stats
What is this ‘advanced stats’ thing I have occasionally been talking about? It’s really not that complicated as a concept! Basically many (but not all) of the statistics we use to understand the performance of hockey players and teams are ‘counting stats,’ … [Read more...]
Games Of Interest With Your Leftover Turkey
I’m frankly surprised they’ve scheduled NCAA women’s hockey games on Thanksgiving weekend. Given these athletes a break. Now I’m going to be a hypocrite and suggest which of those games you should watch. The big draw is obviously Cornell’s two game series … [Read more...]
Hockey: Canada Narrowly Escapes With Four Nations Gold
Get used to what happened last weekend, because if we are truly to reach parity in the international game we’ll be seeing a lot more of it. I think this was a bit of a shadow play of what’s coming, however. Teams such as Finland and Sweden need to be able to play two … [Read more...]
Women, Coaching, And Hockey
Note: Edited! Maine coach Maria Lewis, formerly an assistant at North Dakota and Mercyhurst, has resigned. Coach Lewis does not appear to have made a statement on her own behalf, so we don’t know her side of the story. The ostensible reason was a set of Level Three NCAA … [Read more...]
A Disappointingly Less Weird Week in the NCAA Hockey
Renssalaer is hanging around with some teams, ey? They outshot both BU and Northeastern this weekend, and while they didn’t win either of those games that’s a positive stat. The flip side unfortunately is that Kelly O’Brien is letting in (marginally) more goals on fewer … [Read more...]