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Stathead Blog

Posted by sforman on April 25, 2011

Sports Reference's New Blog: Stathead

I have to admit that I find it very hard to follow all of the great research that people people are producing every day on the web. It's hard enough just checking the two or three largest sites, but when you add in team blogs, other stathead blogs and everything else, it becomes impossible. This doesn't even include trying to locate recent research in baseball, basketball, football and soccer.

So we've decided to do something about it. Every weekday, the Stathead blog will summarize the best research-related studies, news, conferences, and resources for baseball, basketball, football, hockey and soccer.

The blog will primarily be edited by Neil Paine and will typically feature 20-30 links to analytic content around the internet. We've been working out the format over the last two weeks, and we think you'll soon appreciate our concise summaries for all of the articles we write about.

Feedback as always is welcome.

Posted in HR News, SR News | Comments Off on Stathead Blog

NHL Elo Player Rater

Posted by Justin Kubatko on March 20, 2011

Today I would like to introduce a new feature that I think will be a lot of fun: the NHL Elo Player Rater.

The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in two-player games. The creator of the system, Arpad Elo, was a professor of physics at Marquette University who wanted an improved chess rating system. Although the system has its roots in chess, today it is used in many other games.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in HR News | Comments Off on NHL Elo Player Rater

Point Shares

Posted by Neil Paine on March 11, 2011

Created by H-R founder Justin Kubatko, the Point Shares method is an attempt to estimate the number of standings points each player contributed to his team's total. This page is designed to be a quick reference for all things point shares, containing information about the system and links to where the stat can be found on our site.

A Brief Explanation:

Individual players (goalies or skaters) can contribute to team success in either of two ways: by creating marginal goals on offense, or by preventing them on defense. Since there is a relationship between marginal goals and points in the standings, we calculate the marginal goals each individual contributes on offense/defense, and use the league's ratio of marginal goals per point to determine how many points a player's contribution was worth. The sum of a team's individual player point shares will roughly equal the team's point total in the standings.

The Full Explanation:

Calculating Point Shares | Hockey-Reference.com

Hey! Aren't there similar systems to this out there?

Yes, this is hardly the first all-in-one hockey stat to be featured on the internet. In fact, while it was inspired primarily by baseball's Bill James, Point Shares also drew on research done by hockey analysts Tom Awad, Iain Fyffe, and Alan Ryder, among others. But since there was no easy place to find those metrics for every season in NHL history, it was only logical for us to develop our own player value stat that would be easily accessible for hockey fans.

Where to Find Point Shares on the Site:

Posted in HR News, SR News | Comments Off on Point Shares

S-R News: Super Bowl Squares App Now Available!

Posted by Neil Paine on February 2, 2011

Just in time for the big game, our Super Bowl Squares mobile app is now available at the iTunes store and the Android Marketplace.

If you're at a Super Bowl party this weekend and there's a game of squares set up, this app will tell you which squares have the best chance of winning based on game data from 1994-2010. Also, if you're new to the game, there's a page devoted to basic rules that will help you navigate your first SB squares experience. The app costs $0.99, but will pay for itself many times over if you win the pool.

For more information about its features, as well as links to posts about Super Bowl squares theory, click here.

Posted in SR News | Comments Off on S-R News: Super Bowl Squares App Now Available!

Support Hockey-Reference.com, Sponsor a Page

Posted by Neil Paine on January 13, 2011

Sponsoring a page is fun, fast, and easy way to support what we're doing here at Hockey-Reference. With a sponsorship, you can:

  • Show your support for your favorite player or team.
  • Drum up traffic for your own site & draw in fans with a common interest.
  • Get some well-deserved recognition for your support of BBR.
  • Make your voice heard by the tens of thousands of people who visit Hockey-Reference every day.

Here's all you have to do to get involved:

  1. Create a membership account.
  2. Find the page(s) you'd like to support, and click "sponsor" (available pages).
  3. If the page you want is already sponsored, click "Alert Me!" to be informed when the current sponsorship expires.
  4. Follow the instructions to create your message and make your payment.
  5. Your message and links will be visible on the page after we approve them (usually in less than 24 hours).

And who knows, if you're clever enough, your message might end up on lists like these.

Posted in HR News | Comments Off on Support Hockey-Reference.com, Sponsor a Page

Send us Your Suggestions!

Posted by Neil Paine on December 22, 2010

Just a friendly reminder that we welcome site feedback/suggestions via our feedback form:

User Feedback - Hockey-Reference.com

You can also email us directly at this address. We'll try to respond to everything within a week (although it may take longer this time of year, due to the holidays).

Posted in HR News | 2 Comments »

Daily Updates on SR’s College Basketball Site

Posted by Justin Kubatko on November 17, 2010

Starting today, SR's college basketball site will be updated on a daily basis with 2010-11 statistics and results. Player game logs and splits are not ready yet, but they should be up by December 1 at the latest. Keep in mind that there are almost 350 Division I schools, so early on there may be a few hiccups. Please help us out by letting us know if anything looks amiss, either by posting a comment on the CBB blog or by filling out the CBB feedback form.

Posted in SR News | Comments Off on Daily Updates on SR’s College Basketball Site

Server Downtime – Wednesday Morning

Posted by Neil Paine on September 28, 2010

Just a quick note to let everyone know there will be a brief site downtime at 4AM EST tomorrow morning. As always, send us an e-mail if you have any questions or comments, and hopefully everything will go smoothly with minimal inconvenience to all.

Posted in HR News, SR News | Comments Off on Server Downtime – Wednesday Morning

Support Hockey-Reference.com, Sponsor a Page

Posted by Neil Paine on September 27, 2010

Sponsoring a page is fun, fast, and easy way to support what we're doing here at Hockey-Reference. With a sponsorship, you can:

  • Show your support for your favorite player or team.
  • Drum up traffic for your own site & draw in fans with a common interest.
  • Get some well-deserved recognition for your support of BBR.
  • Make your voice heard by the tens of thousands of people who visit Hockey-Reference every day.

Here's all you have to do to get involved:

  1. Create a membership account.
  2. Find the page(s) you'd like to support, and click "sponsor" (available pages).
  3. If the page you want is already sponsored, click "Alert Me!" to be informed when the current sponsorship expires.
  4. Follow the instructions to create your message and make your payment.
  5. Your message and links will be visible on the page after we approve them (usually in less than 24 hours).

And who knows, if you're clever enough, your message might end up on lists like these.

Posted in HR News | Comments Off on Support Hockey-Reference.com, Sponsor a Page

Icings: Check Out Puck Prospectus’ Downloadable GVT Spreadsheet; Buy Their Book

Posted by Neil Paine on September 27, 2010

Here at Hockey-Reference, we're big fans of Puck Prospectus (soon to be Hockey Prospectus). I've corresponded with Tom Awad for years, and I think his Goals Versus Threshold (GVT) stat is clearly in the same discussion as baseball's WAR in terms of being the killer all-in-one stat for its respective sport. That's why I'm thrilled that Tom has uploaded his all-time GVT database (updated thru the 1st round of last season's playoffs) for public consumption. Check it out!

Also, once you do that, you probably will find yourself wanting to order the new Puck Prospectus book, available in hard copy or .PDF format. For my money, there's no better way to prepare for the upcoming season.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Icings: Check Out Puck Prospectus’ Downloadable GVT Spreadsheet; Buy Their Book