The Ride to the Rink: Stats — Friend, Foe, or Fuel for Growth?

Hello, hockey skaters and goalies around the world, and welcome back to another edition of the Ride to the Rink. It's Mike and Lee with you today. Let's talk about stats. Stats, stats, stats. You are either one of three people. You are enamored with stats. You look at your stats all the time. You go on your league website, see how many points you've got, see assists, goals, plus, minus, save percentage. You might be looking at shots against, or you might be someone in the middle, like maybe you look once in a while just to see where you're at, or maybe you're someone who just doesn't look at all. You don't care. Stats are not a thing for you. Wherever you're at on that journey, we're going to talk to you about stats a little bit today. Mike is going to lead us off with some thoughts about stats and why they are important and why they matter. But there's a right way and a wrong way to do it. Yeah, maybe you're one of those players that's afraid of the stat because it exposes something about your play. But so think about this as a player. If your coach is using statistics. shots on goal, back checking, checks, turnovers, whatever, whatever stat line your coach likes and likes to use it. And again, if it's just, if it's just goals, assists, penalty minutes, maybe a little plus minus in there, I think as a player, You want to find a way to use the stats that are giving to you in a way that helps you. I mean, obviously, it could give you the chance of saying, oh, wow, I'm really struggling in these areas of the game. But wow, this other stat is showing that I'm doing something that's benefiting my game and benefiting the team. So you can't just use, you know, just don't use the stat that the coach is giving you in a one dimensional way. And what I mean by that is you figure out where in the game that stat is being, you know, captured. And then how is it affecting you? And then what can you do with that stat? Like, how can you say, wow, that's something I can use in my own game to help me improve the way I play? Whether it's whether it's you have to improve something like you have a stat that that says I have the most turnovers on the team. Or maybe there's a stat that says I have the most goals on the team. OK, well, use those stats to help you become a better player. If your coach is using them, I think that's awesome. Personally, because I think when you get to see, you know, kind of how you fit into the, you know, to the game outside of just the well, I felt good today. That can help you really define who you are as a player. Yeah, I love it, Mike. I mean, look, I like to say too, stats are the great unveiler of positives and negatives in the team game and the individual game, right? So they're an opportunity. You know, what I would say too, just building on the emotional side of this, is if you're just looking at something like goals, points, assists, And let's say, look, maybe you got a lot. Right. Like, that's great. I'm not taking away from that. But you can't only look at what's positive. Right. If you really want to grow as a player, you got to look at all the stats because I'll give you a famous one. Right. Let's say you have forty goals on the season. And your plus minus is two. Well, that means you're getting scored on just as much as you're scoring. And while goals are great, it means that you're not having the impact you think you might be having on the team as an individual, and coaches should be noticing that. Now, look, plus-minus, and for those kids who don't know, a plus-minus is you get a plus when you're on the ice for a goal scored by your team. You get a minus if a goal is scored against while you're out there. There's no plus or minus on special teams or special situations. And it's a little bit of a dated stat. Now I will say that right with, with the way stats are done today, it's a bit of a date. It's an older stat, but it's a, it's a good one to follow at a young age because it gives you a gauge on your offensive and defensive ability, right? That's a great stat to tell you if you're playing both ends of the ice, it's an important stat, right? Now, when you get older or older, Saber metrics and things comes in. I'm not going to mention all those stats, but they're very deep, and they can really unveil things. But the best players in the world will look at those stats, not just the positive ones, but the ones that will teach them something. One that comes to my mind, Mike, is Sidney Crosby, old man Sidney Crosby now. who in his first year did not have a great face-off percentage. And he recognized that, and he worked unbelievably hard to become one of the top face-off people in the league. Then I think there was a stat on backhanded goals, right? Scoring on your backhand was not great at it. He's easily the greatest backhand shooter in history now. So these guys use stats or basically what they can see to improve their game. There's no ending to the learning for them. And stats are a great way to learn about yourself as a player. Now, with that said. talking to your coaches now too, they can be used against you if you don't pay attention to them, right? So it's important when a coach is using a stat saying, hey, blue line turnovers are something that's important to me. I don't want to turn over the blue line. Well, listen to your coach and see how often you may be doing that and learn. And then adversely, this is – kids, if you hear one thing I say today, it's this part. If you see a stat about your game that you don't like – We'll just use blue line. I turn the puck over on the blue line. That's your opportunity to go to the coach and say, Hey coach, I recognize I need to get better at this. Can you please coach me up on this? Can you teach me how to get better on the blue line? What are my options? What do I need to work on at home? How can I improve my game? Kids, If your coach is good, I got to say it like that first. It's music to our ears to hear you say, how do I get better at something? And you should want to get better at something. I can also say this too. If your coach is good, great. You can also research this on your own. You have so many resources today to learn how to get better at hockey. Recognize the aspects of your game you need to work on because I promise you, kids, if you want to make it in this game, if you want to have a positive future playing, you have to become a well-rounded player. You have to go beyond what just you're good at. If you're good at skating, you've got to build on other things. If you're good at passing, you've got to build on other things. Shooting, all of it. Defense, goaltending. You've got to build on those things. Don't rest on what you're just doing well. Let that motivate you to build from that point. Mike, did you have any other thoughts on that? I talked a lot there. No, no, just – yeah, it's all really – don't get hung up on stats also. Because sometimes, you know, like we all have the player that has, you know, fifty more goals than everyone else, but they're not scoring when it matters. Like, so, like, you know, especially high school hockey players nowadays, right, you'll see they'll be winning ten-one and the kid will still be on the ice scoring his seventh goal. Yeah. I'm like, but score when it matters and use the stats when it matters. Be that player that understands that, hey, listen, I wasn't on the ice. We lost eight-seven. Now, if you're an individual, I'm not saying you have to not think about the team, but if you lost eight-seven and you were only on the ice for one goal against... You did your job. I mean, you understand that. And good coaches will recognize that in a player. And I think, so don't get hung up on, oh, this guy has more goals than me. This person has more assists than me. It's really, when are you scoring? When are you making the plays? When are the negative plays and the positive plays? Because that also tells a picture. And I think as you get older, that's what recruiters are really looking at. They're looking at, they're not looking at the stat itself. They're looking at how do you, perform within the team game? And when are you making those positive plays or negative plays in relation to the game? And that's where stats can really help you if you know how to read them and look at them and use them to your advantage. Yeah, I love that, Mike. And kids, I'm going to echo it too. The stats are the stats. The game is the game. You got to play the game, right? Like there's no stat that you see. Stats are in the past too, right? Stats have already happened. They're not doing anything for you now. It's how you show up and play. And kids, I will say this too, that – I will promise you and Mike, you tell me if I'm, you can back me up on this. If you want, I promise you that if you become a well-rounded player, the right coaches in the future will notice that if you're playing at a high level, right? If you are well-rounded and like Mike said, you are not getting scored on and you are not a liability and you're a player of impact, whether you're scoring or not, that will get noticed by high level coaches buy into that side of the game. All right. We look for that. There are many there are many defensemen in the NHL right now that have no points. Right. But guess what? They will get put on the ice every single time their team is up by a goal and there's a face off in there every time. So just be aware of who you are as a player, how you contribute as a player and don't get hung up on the stats. But if you are a stat geek and a stat hound, then use it to your advantage to make yourself a better player. I love it. We'll end it on that. This has been a wonderful edition of the Ride to the Rink. I don't have the stats on this episode, but I hope that you listen to it, kids. And remember, wherever you're on in your hockey journey, we believe in you. You should too. For Mike, I'm Lee. We'll see you on the next Ride to the Rink. Take care, everybody.