Let’s forget about last night’s 7-4 debacle. I couldn’t help but wonder how a team like the Capitals – the least penalized in the league – took so many penalties against the Oilers the other night. The obvious answer is that the ice in Edmonton is much better, which means players skate faster, which means players who aren’t used to that ice may have trouble adjusting and use more desperate measures to slow down opponents. Then they’ll sit after being whistled for hooking, tripping or holding. So while it’s still relatively fresh, we’ll look at the data from the season so far to see if this indeed is the case.
Let’s start with Edmonton:
| Edmonton Oilers | ||||||
| home | Oilers | |||||
| opponent | hooks | holds | hooks | holds | ||
| Pittsburgh | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Vancouver | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Nashville | 2 | 2 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Minnesota | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| NYRangers | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Vancouver | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Washington | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| combined | combined | |||||
| Total | 15 | 3 | 18 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| per game | 2.14 | 0.43 | 2.57 | 0.71 | 0 | 0.71 |
| away | ||||||
| Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Calgary | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Colorado | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| combined | combined | |||||
| Total | 3 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| per game | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0.33 | 0 | 0.33 |
This chart tells us that this season, opponents playing in Edmonton took 2.14 hooking penalties per game compared to .71 for Edmonton, a 3-1 difference. Even divisional opponent Vancouver took a few. But we already assumed that these stats would come out this way, especially after the Caps took four. So the question now is, does it happen elsewhere? Back to the sampling, this time at Verizon Center.
| Washington | ||||||
| home | Capitals | |||||
| opponent | hooks | holds | hooks | holds | ||
| Carolina | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Tampa | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Ottawa | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Florida | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Detroit | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| combined | combined | |||||
| Total | 2 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| per game | 0.4 | 0.6 | 1 | 0.4 | 0 | 0.4 |
| Away | hooks | holds | hooks | holds | ||
| Pittsburgh | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Philly | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Edmonton | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | ||
| combined | combined | |||||
| Total | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| per game | 0.67 | 0.33 | 1 | 1.67 | 0.67 | 2.33 |
Hooking, thus far, isn’t called nearly as often in Washington this season. Is it because the ice conditions are slower? Perhaps. Of course, hooking can happen regardless of ice conditions, especially when Alex Semin is playing. But it’s clear so far that opponents get called for hooking a lot more in Edmonton than opponents do at Verizon Center.
Now let’s head back up north, to a place that likely has faster ice conditions than F Street.
| Vancouver | ||||||
| home | Canucks | |||||
| opponent | hooks | holds | hooks | holds | ||
| Pittsburgh | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | ||
| NYRangers | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ||
| Nashville | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| St. Louis | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Washington | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| combined | combined | |||||
| Total | 7 | 3 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 8 |
| per game | 1.17 | 0.5 | 1.6 | 0.67 | 0.67 | 1.3 |
| away | hooks | holds | hooks | holds | ||
| Columbis | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Philly | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Detroit | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Edmonton | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Edmonton | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| combined | combined | |||||
| Total | 2 | 0 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 8 |
| per game | 0.4 | 0 | 0.4 | 1 | 0.6 | 1.6 |
Vancouver still has almost a 2-1 differential in favor of the home team. So perhaps all the northern teams have better ice, and thus, an advantage. Right?
| Calgary | ||||||
| home | Flames | |||||
| opponent | hooks | holds | hooks | holds | ||
| Pittsburgh | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Edmonton | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| NYRangers | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Nashville | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Colorado | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| St. Louis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | ||
| combined | combined | |||||
| Total | 3 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 1 | 4 |
| per game | 0.5 | 0 | 0.5 | 0.5 | 0.17 | 0.67 |
| Away | ||||||
| opponent | hooks | holds | hooks | holds | ||
| St. Louis | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Montreal | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Toronto | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| combined | combined | |||||
| Total | 1 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| per game | 0.33 | 0.33 | 0.67 | 0.67 | 0 | 0.67 |
Either the ice isn’t as fast in Calgary, the sampling is too small, or it’s just a coincidence that there are fewer hooking calls in Calgary. Now let’s look at one more chart in a place that can’t possibly have better ice than D.C.
| Phoenix | ||||||
| home | Coyotes | |||||
| opponent | hooks | holds | hooks | holds | ||
| Winnipeg | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | ||
| Chicago | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| L.A. | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | ||
| Dallas | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | ||
| N. Jersey | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| combined | combined | |||||
| Total | 3 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 0 | 7 |
| per game | 0.6 | 0.2 | 0.8 | 1.4 | 0 | 1.4 |
| away | hooks | holds | hooks | holds | ||
| San Jose | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | ||
| Dallas | 3 | 0 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Nashville | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | ||
| Anaheim | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | ||
| combined | combined | |||||
| Total | 3 | 2 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| per game | 0.75 | 0.5 | 1.25 | 0.75 | 1 | 1.75 |
I think this just tells us that the Coyotes are slow skaters at home.
Conclusion
We’ll stick with the premise that the Edmonton Oilers have a great home-ice advantage against opponents due to the fast ice conditions.
Many thanks to Ed Ruitberg for contributing to this post.
