NIHL North: The League by Numbers – Breaking Down the Statistics

(Image permission: Keith & Jenny Davies)

BILLINGHAM, UK – A surprising result from the opening round of Moralee D1 games in 2019 saw the Sheffield Steeldogs shut-out the Telford Tigers, just a few days after the last blog entry suggested Telford will win the league with Sheffield third, showing just how unpredictable hockey can be.

The Dogs and netminder Dima Zimozdra also shut-out Solihull Barons on Sunday and gained in most statistical areas over the weekend.

Team Stats

Let’s start with a look at PDO. Despite the aforementioned defeat to the Dogs, Telford stays top of the rankings, but only just. Hull Pirates have narrowed the gap after an 11-2 victory over Billingham Stars on Saturday.

Whitley’s shooting percentage is certainly a concern and not only for the Warriors. While the number at this point shows that the Tyneside outfit should possibly be scoring more of their chances, it is also worrying for those around them as there is a strong possibility that they will improve on that and come more in line with the rest of the league, moving them into possible contention for 4th place.

Blackburn Hawks have managed to move off the bottom in terms of save percentage, as Sutton Sting and Solihull share bottom spot with team save percentages of 85.78%. In terms of PDO, Telford, Billingham, Solihull and Blackburn all saw a slight drop, while Hull, Sheffield, Whitley and Nottingham Lions all gained slightly. Solway Sharks and Sutton did not play.

Looking at special teams, Sheffield were the big movers in terms of powerplay after going 3-for-5 against Solihull on Sunday. This increased them from 28.99% to 31.58% and pushed Hull to 3rd place.

Every other team (except Solway and Sutton who didn’t play) saw their PP number drop. Whitley stay ahead of Telford on the penalty kill, breaking up the big three. The Barons’ PK dropped, at the expense of the Steeldogs’ PP, by over 2%.

Nottingham continue to drop when looking at shots on goal. They were out-shot 72-14 against the team closest to them in the table. All credit to Miles Finney who kept the score down to a respectable 5-1, but it highlights the gulf between Nottingham and the rest. This game pushed them into being out-shot by an average of 50 shots per game.

Hull, despite losing to Telford on Sunday, moved ahead of the Shropshire outfit in both even strength goals for and against this weekend. Obviously Telford were shut-out on Saturday and Hull put 11 past Billingham, but even in the game between the two on Sunday Hull actually beat Telford at even strength by three goals to two.

Sheffield again made gains and closed the gap on their title rivals, while Solihull and Blackburn saw the biggest decreases.

Individual Stats

Jason Hewitt stays top of the pile and has extended his lead at the top to nine points over Whitley’s star man Ben Campbell (2nd). Hewitt is joined in the top 10 by teammates Lee Bonner (=3rd) and Bobby Chamberlain (5th).

Telford have three representatives in the top 10 in Scott McKenzie (=3rd), Doug Clarkson (=6th) and Jason Silverthorn (=9th). Milan Kolena (7th) is joined by Ashley Calvert (=9th) from the Steeldogs camp, while Niklas Ottosson (8th) hangs on for the Barons.

Players outside the top 10 but leading their respective teams are Sutton;s Stan Lascek (35 points, =15th), Solway’s Ric Bentham and Billingham’s Chris Sykes (30 points, =20th), Blackburn’s Peta Valusiak (29 points, =24th) and Nottingham’s Ruskin Hughes (20 points, =42nd).

Top 5 Netminders

Former Hull goalie Tomas Fucik is finally gone from the top five netminders, as his 133 shots faced no longer meets the threshold for consideration.

Dima Zimozdra’s 55 saves without conceding over his two games this weekend jumps him to leading the league. His partner in crime Brandon Stones moves up to 2nd despite not playing as others have dropped.

Brad Day again featured in Ashley Smith’s absence for the Pirates and is now in 3rd. Despite a Man of the Match performance against Hull on Sunday, Tom Hovell dropped to 4th place.

Closing out the top five is Miles Finney who saved 67 of 72 shots against Billingham on Sunday and has faced easily the most shots of any netminder on this list.

The Lowe Down

A small alteration to the final post of 2018 in which we discussed suspensions and appeals processes. EIHA Fixtures Secretary, Gary Dent, confirmed that there is no set minimum number of games for which a ban can be appealed.

However there are a list of guidelines that the league use when issuing suspensions. If the minimum suspension for an offence has been imposed then a ban cannot be appealed.

There are still issues with the appeals process such as video footage being reviewed, the ridiculous cost of appeal that is non-refundable regardless of the result and the fact that some bans cannot be appealed. However, an error was printed and it is only responsible to set it straight.