Month: March 2014

Catching up with the Oilers

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1297543298643_ORIGINALI have no idea how anyone, journalists, bloggers, anyone, can find the motivation to write a paragraph about the 2013/2014 Oilers.

Since the Olympic break, the club has gone 6-9. In the month of March, they’ve posted some very brutal losses to the likes of Buffalo and Calgary.

The Positives

The young defencemen are looking pretty decent. Guys like Marincin and Klefbom continue to hold their own despite some rookie jitters. Both are a great example of how the AHL benefits players, especially when there’s a strong coach and system in place. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if OKC Barons coach Todd Nelson makes his way up to the NHL soon.

The Scrivens/Fasth combo is looking pretty decent now, and have stolen a few games for the team. GM MacTavish might not be everyone’s favorite, but at the least the guy is making changes quickly.

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Alumni Council Meeting – Last Lecture, Dinners on Us, Crowdfunding, Visit from President Samarasekera

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Rutherford House

Rutherford House

Here’s a recap of the our Alumni Council meeting last week.

Congratulations to Professor Robert Burch of the Department of Philosophy for being selected as the Last Lecturer for 2014.

Faculty have always played a significant role in the experience of students, making this series a great link between Alumni and their professors. From the U of A Alumni site:

The Last Lecture Series asks a speaker to answer one question in the form of an engaging public lecture: “If this were your last time to address a group of students, what would you say to them?” This is an opportunity for a favourite faculty member to share his or her reflections beyond the bounds of syllabus in a fun, informal setting.

Dr. Burch received the most votes cast by students and will be giving his lecture on April 9th.

We also learned about the Dinners on Us program here at the U of A. Alumni have the opportunity to invite a current students to their home and provide them with a home-cooked meal, using the best Ivy and Wilde homeware. It’s a great way for students to connect with the larger community, especially those that have travelled away from home. If you’re at all interested, check out the Dinners on Us website.

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The Hottest Card on Ice: Reliving the NHL Pro Set Cards

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Pro Set - 1990 Series

Pro Set – 1990 Series

Came across a pile of 1990 Pro Set hockey cards on a recent excursion to Toys R Us. I hadn’t seen the cards in its original packaging since I was a kid, so it was a nice nostalgic feeling.

It was great to relive the feel of the package, the way it tore open so perfectly and that feeling of excitement not knowing what gems would be in the pack.

Hockey card collecting, for me  at least, was one of my first “remix” experiences. You’d spend hours trying to collect cards through trades. But there were a number of  casino games that we’d play using the stats on the back of the cards. We checked out All online casinos in Canada reviewed by CasinoGuides.ca. The actual value and maintenance of the cards were never really considered, so we didn’t hesitate shuffling a deck and comparing stats.

I’m sure Toys R Us didn’t just happen to find a pile of these kicking around. Seem a little more calculated than that since they know the kids who collected these cards are parents now.

 

 

Hockey Analytics: The new wave of information and the online fan community that is driving the field

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In case you missed it, the Communications and Technology graduate program at the University of Alberta hosted a public lecture on hockey analytics this afternoon in Edmonton.

        Link to full lecture on Livestream

        Event details including speaker bios

We had a great turnout in the classroom with people of various backgrounds in attendance. Along with hockey fans, there were members of the U of A faculty, students, bloggers and even employees of the Edmonton Oilers in the classroom.

I want to thank Michael Parkatti for his in-depth presentation of hockey analytics. Michael’s contributions to the field of hockey analytics have been extremely valuable and he continues to track game stats on his blog, Boys on the Bus. I really hope people left the session with not only a better understanding of hockey analytics, but also an appreciation for the work fans have done online.

My main motivation for putting this session together was to promote the field of hockey analytics and really showcase the kind of work hockey fans are doing online. Hockey analytics is still many years behind other sports in terms of tracking and collecting data. But there really is a lot of potential for continued growth and development of hockey information.

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