The Pythagorean Won-Loss Formula and Hockey: A Statistical Justification for Using the Classic Baseball Formula as an Evaluative Tool in Hockey

Originally devised for baseball, the Pythagorean Won-Loss formula estimates the percentage of games a team should have won at a particular point in a season. For decades, this formula had no mathematical justification. In 2006, Steven Miller provided a statistical derivation by making some heuristic assumptions about the distributions of runs scored and allowed by baseball teams. We make a similar set of assumptions about hockey teams and show that the formula is just as applicable to hockey as it is to baseball. We hope that this work spurs research in the use of the Pythagorean Won-Loss formula as an evaluative tool for sports outside baseball.Comment: 21 pages, 4 figures; Forthcoming in The Hockey Research Journal: A Publication of the Society for International Hockey Research, 2012/1

Efficacy of a four-week uphill sprint training intervention in field hockey players

Current evidence increasingly suggests that very short, supra-maximal bouts of exercise can have significant health and performance benefits. The majority of research conducted in the area however, uses laboratory-based protocols, which can lack ecological validity. The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of a high intensity sprint-training programme on hockey related performance measures. 14 semi-professional hockey players completed either a 4-week high intensity training (HIT) intervention, consisting of a total of six sessions HIT, which progressively increased in volume (n=7), or followed their normal training programme (Con; n=7). Straight-line sprint speed with and without a hockey stick and ball, and slalom sprint speed, with and without a hockey stick and ball were used as performance indicators. Maximal sprint speed over 22.9m was also assessed. Upon completion of the four-week intervention, straight-line sprint speed improved significantly in the HIT group (~3%), with no change in performance for the Con group. Slalom sprint speed, both with and without a hockey ball was not significantly different following the training programme in either group. Maximal sprint speed improved significantly (12.1%) in the HIT group, but there was no significant performance change in the Con group. The findings of this study indicate that a short period of HIT can significantly improve hockey related performance measures, and could be beneficial to athletes and coaches in field settings

GPS analysis of a team competing in a national under 18 field hockey tournament

The purpose of this study was to utilise global-positioning system (GPS) technology to quantify the running demands of national under 18 field hockey players competing in a regional field hockey tournament. Ten male field hockey players (mean ± SD; age 17.2 ± 0.4 years; stature 178.1 ± 5.2 cm; body mass 78.8 ± 8.8 kg) playing in different positional groups as strikers, midfielders and defenders wore GPS units while competing in six matches over seven days at an under 18 national field hockey tournament. GPS enabled the measurement of total distance (TD), low-speed activity (LSA; 0 -14.9 km/hr), and high-speed running (HSR; ≥ 15 km/hr) distances in addition to distances over five velocity bands (≤ 5.9km.h-1; 6 – 10km.h-1; 10.1 – 14.9km.h-1; 15 – 24.6km.h-1; and ≥ 24.7km.h-1). Midfielders covered significantly higher TD and the highest LSA when compared to other positional groups. Strikers covered significantly higher HSR and the lowest LSA out of all positional groups. These results suggest that these playing positions are sufficiently different to warrant specialised position-specific conditioning training leading into a field hockey tournament. Therefore, training schedules, substitutions and intra-match recovery should be tailored by position, taking into account the needs of the individual players

State Trading and Economic Warfare

This report is a study if a multi linear regression could be used to predict the cap hit of hockey forwards from the NHL. Data was collected during the 2010-2011, 2011-2012, and 2012-2013 seasons. The chosen variables were common hockey statistics and a few none hockey-related, like origin and age. The initial model was improved by removing insignicant covariates, detected by BIC-test and p-values. The final model consisted of 291 players and had an adjusted R2-value of 0,7820. Of the covariates, goals, assists and ice time had the biggest impact on a player's cap hit

Savannah Hockey Classic: An Evaluation of Event Personality and Economic Impact

In 2009, the Savannah Sports Council hosted its 11th annual Savannah Hockey Classic. In order to assist the future marketing of this event, a study was undertaken to assist the Savannah Sports Council in 3 major ways: (1) To obtain a consumer profile of spectators, (2) to explore the economic impact of the event on the city of Savannah, and (3) to discover the perceived personality of the event (assist in sponsor recruitment). To reach the objectives of the study, a survey was conducted with 267 spectators of the Savannah Hockey Classic. The survey consisted of four sections: (1) Economic impact (2) Consumer behavior & preferences, (3) Attitude and image perceptions of the event and organizing body, and (4) Consumer demographic characteristics. The majority of respondents were male (62%) and Caucasian (95%). While their average age was 36, 78% of respondents were between the ages of 25 to 59. Spectators tended to be educated (61% with a college degree of some sort) and affluent (63% earn \u3e $50,000). Just over half (56%) of the spectators traveled to Savannah to attend the event. Eighty-one of the eighty-three out-of-town respondents reported spending at least 1 night in Savannah. However, 50% of out-of-town respondents said they would have come to Savannah even if the Hockey Classic was not taking place. Eighty-two percent said they would be visiting Savannah at some point in the following 3 months. This suggests that while the Hockey Classic is a popular event, most of the visitors would travel to Savannah even if the event did not take place. Spectators appear to have developed very positive feelings about the Savannah Hockey Classic. On a 7-point scale, respondents reported the following scores on a variety of items: Gratitude toward the Savannah Sports Council for organizing the event was very high 6.5, attitude regarding the success and quality of the hockey event itself was 6.4, and fan identification with the event was reported at 6.1. With regard to the image/brand of the event, respondents perceive the Hockey Classic to be: An exciting event (6.4 out of 7), a sincere/wholesome event (6.3 out of 7), and a competent and successful event (6.3 out of 7)

The Jurisprudence of Interests translated and edited by M. Magdalena Schoch

The  purpose  of  this  report  is  to  examine  and  describe  how  an  elite  sports organization uses  implementation  of  values  to  strengthen  the  organizational culture and the strategy.   The author has made a case study of Luleå Hockey, consisting  of   eight  interviews  and   necessary  observations.  The  report  is interview based but books, scientific articles and reports have also been taken into consideration.  Research emphasizes that the ongoing commercializing-­‐  and professionalizing processes in non-­‐profit  organizations has led to a greater influence of business thinking,  which can  be  noted in  the  case Luleå Hockey who knowingly uses strategy. The theoretical framework of the report, however, proves that strategy needs  the  support  of  a  strong  organizational  culture  in  order  to  be  used effectively. To develop an organizational culture that correlate with strategy, the understanding of how to implement values is important. Luleå   Hockey   uses   strategy   and   realizes   how   shared   values   influence organizational culture, however the procedure where Luleå Hockey implements the   values   into   the   organization   can   still   be   improved.   In   elite   sports organizations a conflict of interests arises when the non-­‐profit fundament of the organization  is  put  in  contrast  to  the  profit-­‐generating  goals,  shared  values  can therefor be the glue that holds these organizations together.Denna  uppsats  syftar  till  att  undersöka  och  beskriva  hur  en  elitidrottsförening arbetar med värdegrundsimplementering för att stärka organisationskultur och strategi. Med utgångspunkt i ovanstående syfte har författaren genomfört en fallstudie  av  Luleå  Hockey,  innehållande  åtta  intervjuer  samt  observationer. Uppsatsen är kvalitativt baserad men material i form av vetenskapliga artiklar, böcker och rapporter har också visats hänsyn. Forskning       understryker       att       pågående       professionaliserings-­‐        och kommersialiseringsprocesser  inom  ideell  verksamhet  har  lett  till  ett  ökat näringslivstänkande,  vilket  konstateras  i  fallet  Luleå  Hockey  som  medvetet använder strategi.  Uppsatsens teoretiska referensram bevisar dock att strategi behöver stöd av en stark organisationskultur för att användas effektivt. För att utveckla  en  organisationskultur till  att  korrelera  med  formulerad  strategi  är värdegrundsimplementering viktigt.  Luleå  Hockey  använder  sig  av  strategi  och  förstår  hur  delade  värderingar påverkar  organisationskulturen,  däremot  kan  värdegrundsimplementeringen utvecklas. Inom elitidrottsföreningar där en intressekonflikt uppstår mellan det ideella  fundamentet  och  de  vinstgenererande  målsättningarna,  kan  delade värderingar   som   genomsyrar   verksamheten   vara   det   lim   som   håller   dessa föreningar samman

Field Hockey Releases 1972

Field Hockey Releases 197

Field Hockey Roster 1975

Field Hockey Roster 197

Everyday envisionings: running pleasures and pains

The precise ways in which we go about doing the mundane, often repetitive, actions of everyday life are central concerns of ethnographers and theorists working within the traditions of the sociology of the mundane, sociological phenomenology and ethnomethodology. In this article, we utilize insights derived from Schützian phenomenology and its operationalization via ethnomethodology to provide a novel perspective on a particular, mundane and embodied social practice: training for distance running - in specific places: our favoured running routes. Despite a growing corpus of ethnographic studies of sports and physical cultures, relatively scant analytic attention has been devoted to investigating the actual, mundane, everyday practices of “doing” or “producing” physical cultural activity, particularly from a sensory auto/ethnographic perspective (Allen-Collinson & Hockey, 2009; Sparkes, 2009). Here we seek to “mark” (Brekhus, 1998) the everyday activity of training for distance running, in particular analysing how terrain is habitually seen, evaluated and experienced on the run