Monthly archives for February, 2014

Do NHL trade deadline deals actually work?

It’s trade deadline time, and fans of middling teams are no doubt dreaming of a shining knight who will ride into town and inspire the team President to dust off his long abandoned Stanley Cup parade map.   But do deadline acquisitions actually work, or is adding a key part now like trying to fix […]

Hockey analytics: Defencemen give Canada oh-so-slight advantage in Olympic semifinal

When two men’s hockey teams are as closely matched as Canada and the U.S., the difference between skating for gold and playing in the loser’s bracket can come down to which one shuts down the other’s biggest weapons. So the Department of Hockey Analytics set out to identify and analyze the Canada-U.S. semifinal’s critical matchups. We wanted […]

Canada an underdog against field to defend men’s Olympic gold

As Canadian hockey fans gear up for the Olympics, I have good news and bad news. Let’s start with the good news: Team Canada is the best team in this tournament, and the one most likely to win gold.  The bad news is Canada probably won’t win gold. Before you start clamoring for my passport, […]

Variance and Chicken Wings: More on the US Olympic Team

To me, the important issue raised by the piece in The Star is that the probability of winning a single game is determined by more than each team’s expected performance.  Consider the following stylized version of a competition. Suppose that IJay and I sit down to have a suicide wing eating competition.  In such a […]

Did The U.S. Pick Their Best, Best Men’s Olympic Hockey Team?

By IJay Palansky and Phil Curry   The Olympics are just around the corner and there’s no shortage of prognosticating and second guessing.  Pundits have argued ad nauseam.  What’s the magic formula?  Experience?  Speed?  Heart?  Size?  Defense?  Team chemistry?  Ability to play on the larger international ice? I’m not going to talk about any of […]