(Image permission: Tony Burghum Photography)
BILLINGHAM, UK – We go back to the old model blog this week after causing quite a stir on social media last week.
But, before we begin our look into the numbers, it was nice to see the vast majority of those disagreeing with the sentiments of the last blog being able to do so in a civilised and conversational manner.
The point of these blogs is to give the statistics and then give an opinion and create discussion. Whether or not you agree with the points made the conversation is worth having.
Finally, it was good to see that despite the result on Sunday against Billingham Stars, the game was certainly much more competitive on a personal note for Telford Tigers’ forward Andrew McKinney, who was kept off the scoresheet.
Team Stats
Telford and Hull Pirates continue to dominate with the man advantage both with over 30% success with the extra skater. Nottingham Lions continue to be the only team below 10% in this regard and Blackburn Hawks have dropped by 3% in two weeks.
On the penalty kill, Hull keep hold of top spot and remain the only team with over 90% despite a drop of 2%. Telford have closed the gap on the Pirates in overall special team effectiveness and are now under 1% behind their title rivals.
| Powerplay % | Penalty Kill % | Special Teams | |||||
| Telford | 39.02% | Hull | 90.20% | Hull | 124.24% | ||
| Hull | 34.04% | Sheffield | 89.58% | Telford | 123.33% | ||
| Sheffield | 25.53% | Whitley | 84.42% | Sheffield | 115.11% | ||
| Sutton | 23.88% | Telford | 84.31% | Whitley | 104.66% | ||
| Solway | 23.68% | Sutton | 79.41% | Sutton | 103.29% | ||
| Solihull | 20.24% | Solway | 78.26% | Solway | 101.94% | ||
| Whitley | 20.24% | Blackburn | 77.78% | Blackburn | 92.87% | ||
| Billingham | 19.72% | Billingham | 70.49% | Billingham | 90.21% | ||
| Blackburn | 15.09% | Solihull | 68.67% | Solihull | 88.91% | ||
| Nottingham | 9.72% | Nottingham | 65.06% | Nottingham | 74.78% |
Sheffield Steeldogs and Solway Sharks swapped places in terms of shots for per game, with the Scottish outfit dropping by almost two and a half shots per game pushing them below the Dogs.
The Steel City side also moved back into 1st place in terms of shots against. This was more about Hull allowing more shots than they had previously, possibly due to having a stud netminder, leading to them taking a few more risks.
Solihull Barons moved into 3rd place when looking at shooting percentage after scoring three goals on just 18 shots against Solway on Saturday night in a losing effort.
| Shots For Per Game | Shots Against Per Game | Shot % | |||||
| Hull | 58.17 | Sheffield | 25.31 | Telford | 18.63% | ||
| Telford | 48.75 | Hull | 26.58 | Hull | 15.04% | ||
| Sheffield | 44.08 | Telford | 29.42 | Solihull | 13.02% | ||
| Solway | 41.94 | Solway | 31.25 | Sheffield | 12.91% | ||
| Whitley | 40.60 | Blackburn | 37.07 | Solway | 12.52% | ||
| Solihull | 36.79 | Whitley | 38.15 | Billingham | 11.09% | ||
| Blackburn | 35.86 | Sutton | 38.76 | Blackburn | 10.76% | ||
| Billingham | 34.27 | Solihull | 40.79 | Sutton | 10.14% | ||
| Sutton | 32.47 | Billingham | 42.40 | Whitley | 9.24% | ||
| Nottingham | 20.00 | Nottingham | 66.28 | Nottingham | 8.89% |
At even strength Telford finally ousted Hull from top spot. The Pirates dropped by 0.5 goals per game in the two weeks since the last time we checked these stats whilst the Tigers gained by 0.75 over the same period.
Blackburn leapfrogged Billingham in even strength goals for, but fell, along with the Stars, below Solihull in even strength goals against. This left the Hawks and Stars equal on -0.93 goals per game at even strength.
| Even Strength For | Even Strength Against | Even Strength Diff | |||||
| Telford | 7.25 | Hull | 1.25 | Telford | 5.75 | ||
| Hull | 6.75 | Sheffield | 1.46 | Hull | 5.50 | ||
| Sheffield | 4.46 | Telford | 1.50 | Sheffield | 3.00 | ||
| Solway | 3.75 | Solway | 2.44 | Solway | 1.31 | ||
| Solihull | 3.58 | Solihull | 3.42 | Solihull | 0.16 | ||
| Sutton | 2.88 | Billingham | 3.60 | Billingham | -0.93 | ||
| Blackburn | 2.86 | Blackburn | 3.79 | Blackburn | -0.93 | ||
| Billingham | 2.67 | Whitley | 3.80 | Sutton | -0.94 | ||
| Whitley | 2.45 | Sutton | 3.82 | Whitley | -1.35 | ||
| Nottingham | 1.22 | Nottingham | 7.28 | Nottingham | -6.06 |
Individual Stats
Jason Hewitt reclaimed top spot as he joins Whitley Warriors star Ben Campbell on 42 points. Hewitt has however played seven fewer games than Campbell.
The Pirates’ player/coach is joined by teammates Lee Bonner (4th), Matt Davies and Bobby Chamberlain (=8th). Barons pair Niklas Ottosson and Luke Brittle sit either side of Bonner in 3rd and 5th respectively, while Telford pair Doug Clarkson and McKinney share 6th spot.
Rounding out the top 10 is Sheffield import Milan Kolena. As for the sides not represented in the top 10, Solway’s Ric Bentham (27pts in 16gp) and Sutton’s Stan Lascek (27pts in 17gp) share 13th spot.
Billingham’s Chris Sykes (26pts in 15 games) is in 19th, while Hawks import Peta Valusiak (19pts in 13 games) is in =30th. Finally, Nottingham’s Ruskin Hughes is at a point per game with 18pts in 18 games in =33rd.
| Name | Team | GP | G | A | P | PPG |
| J Hewitt | Hull | 12 | 22 | 20 | 42 | 3.50 |
| B Campbell | Whitley | 19 | 27 | 15 | 42 | 2.21 |
| N Ottosson | Solihull | 19 | 10 | 27 | 37 | 1.95 |
| L Bonner | Hull | 12 | 18 | 17 | 35 | 2.92 |
| L Brittle | Solihull | 17 | 21 | 13 | 34 | 2.00 |
| D Clarkson | Telford | 8 | 21 | 12 | 33 | 4.13 |
| A McKinney | Telford | 12 | 8 | 25 | 33 | 2.75 |
| M Davies | Hull | 8 | 6 | 26 | 32 | 4.00 |
| B Chamberlain | Hull | 10 | 15 | 17 | 32 | 3.20 |
| M Kolena | Sheffield | 13 | 10 | 21 | 31 | 2.38 |
Top 5 Netminders
Tomas Fucik’s time at the top of the top 5 netminders list is drawing ever closer to ending as within the next two weeks the minimum number of shots needed to make the list will likely surpass his 133.
Dmitri Zimozdra has moved ahead of Tom Hovell. Zimozdra saved 20 of 21 shots against Solway, while Hovell played just 20 minutes of 120 conceding a single goal on 10 Stars shots.
Brandon Stones stayed unmoved after not facing a shot in league action for the second week in a row, while Brad Day moved ahead of Solway’s Jordan McLaughlin into 5th after the young Scot allowed eight goals on 68 shots.
| Name | Team | SAG | GA | SAVE % |
| T Fucik | Hull | 133 | 5 | 96.24% |
| D Zimozdra | Sheffield | 174 | 13 | 92.53% |
| T Hovell | Telford | 138 | 11 | 92.03% |
| B Stones | Sheffield | 147 | 12 | 91.84% |
| B Day | Hull | 110 | 10 | 90.91% |
| Min 100 shots |
The Lowe Down
Much has been made over the past few weeks about the structure of the NIHL. We see that MK Thunder in the south are struggling financially and may even withdraw from the league this weekend unless they hit their crowd-funding total of £10,000.
There is a clear and obvious divide, more so in the North, between the old EPL sides and the old NIHL sides. The league table masks the problem with Solway in 2nd place and Solihull just two points behind Hull.
However, on closer inspection you see that both those sides have played more than the former EPL sides. If we take a look at points percentage the league table would be as follows:
| Team | Points % | Average Score |
| Sheffield | 100.00% | 6 – 2 |
| Telford | 95.83% | 9 – 2 |
| Hull | 91.67% | 9 – 2 |
| Solway | 75.00% | 5 – 3 |
| Solihull | 52.63% | 5 – 5 |
| Blackburn | 42.86% | 4 – 5 |
| Whitley | 37.50% | 4 – 5 |
| Sutton | 35.29% | 3 – 6 |
| Billingham | 26.67% | 4 – 5 |
| Nottingham | 0.00% | 2 – 10 |
With attendances reported to be falling as old EPL fans aren’t happy with the hockey they are seeing and old NIHL fans staying away from seeing their teams get thumped, what is the answer?
With the possibility of a new governing body looming with the potential of a fresh start, how would you, as the reader of this blog, remedy the situation?
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