Ryan Smyth – The Generational Player

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Pretty memorable night this past weekend. In case you missed it, here’s the highlight from the game.

I’ve never experienced anything like that and I don’t suspect many other have. Almost makes you forget about the disastrous season.

The funny thing is, Smyth has been on the team for three years since his return. Yet we didn’t pay much attention to him, mainly because he was playing a reduced role. We knew he was on the team, but I don’t think anyone really, truly appreciated his accomplishments until this past weekend.

Smyth really did define an entire era for the Oilers. For me personally, he was the face of the franchise, that generational player every team desperately searches for. Around the time I really started following the Oilers was when Smyth was just starting his legacy. Losing him is losing a big part of the Oilers fan experience.

Reflecting on his career and following the #94memories discussion on Twitter, it’s crazy to think that every significant event I’ve experienced as an Oiler fan, he was there.

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Questions following the Public Lecture on Hockey Analytics

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Source: Edmonton Oilers

Source: Edmonton Oilers

In case you missed it, the Communications and Technology program at the University of Alberta recently hosted a public lecture on hockey analytics. I really enjoyed speaking at the event as I got to connect my research as a student of the program with some of the real-life work bloggers are doing online.

I can’t say enough about Michael Parkatti, who put together a solid presentation on the fundamentals of hockey analytics. If you haven’t seen the presentation, you can access it on Livestream.

What was remarkable was how big of a response the session received. The session drew a full house at the downtown campus and has since drawn over 1,600 views online. I was especially blown away by its distribution on Twitter and the positive feedback we received.

Following the session, I received a few questions from attendees and others who caught the session online. I thought I’d share some of these and my responses.

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Filtering out the Noise: Laraque/Gazdic and Goalie performance against former teams

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LaraqueWithout a doubt, blogging tools such as Twitter have been great tools for fans to share and receive information. The best part about it, however, has been its ability to filter out the junk information that surrounds the game of hockey.

Two great examples today.

A local sports reporter was being interviewed on the radio this morning and suggested a current Oilers enforcer Luke Gazdic was a better player than former Oiler Georges Laraque. It was quickly picked up on Twitter.

Unfortunately, the reporter didn’t back up his assertion, leaving it up to listeners and the online community to correct him. Jonathan Willis of the Cult of Hockey had this to add: Continue reading →

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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Gold!

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Sochi 2014

Sochi 2014

Well, that was fun.

It was nice to be reminded what meaningful hockey looks like. I thought the tournament was a great showcase for hockey, and really highlighted the skill and speed of the game. No useless pushing and shoving after the whistle. No meaningless fights. Just hockey.

A gold for Canada was expected, but with excellent goaltending apparent across the tournament, along with a knock-out format, anything could’ve happened. Thankfully Canada can boast back-to-back gold medals and move on from all the hype and gossip that lead up to the Olympics.

A personal highlight for me was watching Teemu Selanne play his final tournament for Finland and win bronze. The 42 year old has had such a remarkable career and continues to play well as he gets older. He, along with Martin St. Louis, are great examples of age being just a number. I can’t imagine the work they do to keep doing what they do. Just unreal.

And now, back to the grind of being an Oilers fan. Last I checked, they won five of their last seven, Ben Scrivens was playing well, and the team is destined to ship out real NHL players for draft picks.

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Welcome….To The Machine – Black Dog Hates Skunks

Free Public Lecture on Hockey Analytics

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Happy to announce that I’ve put together a short public lecture on hockey analytics, scheduled for  Wednesday March 26th at the University of Alberta.

Here’s the general description of the session:

The field of Hockey Analytics continues to gain importance as more stakeholders, including fans and teams, are examining data and developing new ideas regarding the game. With the advancement of communication technology and analytic tools, fans have taken a greater role in developing new methods of measuring team and player performance. New ideas are often communicated and developed amongst fans through blogs, message boards and other social media tools.

I’ll be joined by Michael Parkatti, a hockey analytics blogger at Boys on the Bus . Michael has extensive experience with hockey analytics and will be providing an overview of the field as well as the current concepts.

Scrivens

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Source: Edmonton Oilers

Source: Edmonton Oilers

Unbelievable performance by goaltender Ben Scrivens tonight as the Oilers shutout the powerhouse San Jose Sharks. How the Oilers allowed that many scoring chances and still won the game, a shutout no less, is beyond me.

Scrivens set a new record for most saves in a shutout win with 59 stops. Here’s hoping he can continue playing well and extend the current three-game winning streak.

It can easily be pointed out that the team played horrific defense and allowed way too many quality scoring chances. They really did luck out against one of the top teams in the league.

But in the midst of another losing season, it’s nice to have one of these memorable wins. Lord knows we’ve been burned by a hot goalies enough times, so it’s nice to be on the winning end for once.

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Ben F’n Scrivens!!! – The Copper and Blue