Some Questions about College Hockey I always Ponder

[TitleIXHockey]

In terms of conference scheduling, is it more difficult to alternate between playing the same good team twice and the same bad team twice on a given weekend or to mix?

Is playing some very good teams and some very bad teams harder than playing only teams in the middle?

Is it better to give your top line a lot of icetime early in the season to condition for tournaments or roll multiple lines to get younger players experience?

Thanks to the Covid season, we know there is a point where there are too few intraconference games for PWR or KRACH to be useful. What is that point and are WCHA (or WHEA) teams that have more conference games and fewer out of conference games always above it?

The NHL has found that it is, broadly statistically, not worth it to play the same goaltender back to back. Is this also true in college where goaltenders rarely also have to play more than twice in a week?

What can you do to help explain why a team has a very good PP and very bad PK or vice versa?

 

[Reddington]

It's all about production. If you are getting production out of your top line, they get ridden. If the production is not there you see more even playing time. Of course this is just my opinion.

As far as goaltending - it depends on skill level. Lovisa S had no problem playing all the time and at a high level. Every goalie is not Lovisa though

 

[Lindsay]

These are all great questions!
something I think about that… how to measure how close teams are to their potential. How much better could certain teams be if on ice Coaching / nutrition / mental coaching was different.

have to think there are several players/teams that are not near their potential. Yale and OSU timeline of going from average to excellent was so short…makes you wonder.

 

[TitleIXHockey]

These are all great questions!
something I think about that… how to measure how close teams are to their potential. How much better could certain teams be if on ice Coaching / nutrition / mental coaching was different.

have to think there are several players/teams that are not near their potential. Yale and OSU timeline of going from average to excellent was so short…makes you wonder.

I missed this, that's a really intriguing thought. I have long thought that in the future we will be able to biometrically measure percentage of max muscle output to help prevent injuries (mostly for baseball pitchers), but I never thought about measuring that and other factors in terms of peak performance.

 

[pgb-ohio]

The NHL has found that it is, broadly statistically, not worth it to play the same goaltender back to back. Is this also true in college where goaltenders rarely also have to play more than twice in a week?

Very interesting article, thanks for posting the link!

This may not apply as much at the college level, for multiple reasons.

1. Just as you suggest, college goalies only play 2 games a week. The fatigue factor may have a greater impact in a third or fourth game.

2. Long term fatigue matters. The NHL plays twice as many regular season games as a college team. And the difference is more exaggerated in the post-season. It currently takes 3 or 4 wins to capture an NCAA title in Women's Hockey. That's just the first of four rounds at the NHL level. And that's only if you sweep.

3. Opponent's SOG matters. If the team in front of the keeper is holding down opposing shot totals, fatigue may not be much of factor in Game 2. Conversely, if a goalie faces a ton of shots in Game 1, a fresh goalie may make a real difference in Game 2. I didn't do any research. But off the top of my head I'd guess there's a lot more variation in shots allowed at the college level, as opposed to the NHL level. Meaning that for a number of college teams, resting the top goalie on Saturday may be less beneficial statistically.


Big picture, you're going to start the goalie who gives you the best chance to win. When a coach makes that decision, it certainly makes sense to take possible fatigue into account. But I don't believe the NHL data suggests that college teams should always alternate goalies.