With or Without You

I've been thinking about relationships recently, which leads me to this post about ... advanced hockey statistics.  Weird, right?  Bear with me.

(If you thought I was writing about U2, sorry to disappoint.  I did listen to The Joshua Tree while writing this, though.)

My favorite fancy stat is With Or Without You, a.k.a. WOWY.  WOWY measures how well pairs of players perform together and apart.  Like any stat, it has its limitations, but typically good players help others perform better.  WOWY also lets you know if a player is dragging down his teammates, that is, if they perform worse when playing with him.

One of my favorite illustrations of WOWY is this analysis of the Umberger for Hartnell trade, written in June 2014.  It's a quick read.  The bottom line is that, statistically, Hartnell ranked with such elites as Jonathan Toews, Patrice Bergeron, and Anze Kopitar in improving his teammates' performance on the ice.  On the other hand, Umberger's teammates consistently performed worse when paired with him.  

Wonder if anyone at the Flyers organization looked at those stats before the trade.

That aside, I find WOWY fascinating because it distills a two-person relationship down to hard percentages.  Wouldn't it be nice to have a stat like in life?

Instead of complaining to your boss about a lazy co-worker, you could just show her the data proving that he reduces your productivity.  Want to break up with your spouse?  Now you have the numbers to prove that she's literally bringing you down.  

I'm joking, of course.  Relationships are defined by intangibles, they are impossible to quantify.  Numbers can help, but if you ask any two people - whether teammates, friends, co-workers - what gives them a spark when they're together, what gets them in sync, what makes them click...

The answer isn't going to be a fancy stat.  Rather, it's the elusive concept of chemistry, and when a team finds it, underdogs become champions.  

The Flyers need that synergy to succeed.  I can't get a handle on Hakstol's coaching, to be honest, but given the importance of chemistry, how about less practices where the players attack each other and more focus on cohesiveness?  

It certainly couldn't hurt.

Thanks to puckalytics.com and alongtheboards.com

Perspective

The Flyers played a terrible game last night, yes, but let's keep things in perspective.

It's still just a game.

I woke up ready to throw in the towel or write something scathing about the team.  Then I saw the posts on Twitter from today's practice and paused...

The Flyers hosted Liam on behalf of the Make-A-Wish foundation.

Liam could have cared less how many goals Jake Voracek has scored, or whether Claude Giroux is a good captain, or if the players had fifty, let alone two, closed door team meetings.

He was just living out his wish.

And thinking about Liam's perspective made me change mine.

The Flyers are my team.  I love to watch them play.  I will not boo them.

Today I was reminded that, win or lose, hockey is full of heroes.

Go Liam and go Flyers!

Flyerdelphia Fan Files #1 - What Can You Say?

When Flyerdelphia asked me to contribute to Fan Files, I was beyond excited.  I love the Flyers and will take every opportunity to talk about the team.  I’ll start a conversation with total strangers wearing Flyers gear – whether walking down the street, working behind a sandwich counter, or driving next me on Broad Street.

Even when the team is slumping I can find a silver lining.  So I agreed to write for Flyerdelphia’s new feature without hesitation.

But there’s a problem.

I’ve got nothing.

Believe me, I was absolutely convinced that by the Friday night deadline I’d have something good to say about the team’s roadtrip.  I don’t.  (Who does?) I’m so tired, having stayed up past my bedtime practically all week watching the Flyers spiral down, down, down.

What is happening?  This season is so much worse than anyone thought.

Surprisingly, goaltending seems NOT to be the issue.  A lot of people are pointing fingers at the defense, but let’s face it, you can’t win hockey games if you don’t score goals.  And the Flyers are barely scoring at all.

It’s difficult to get a handle on exactly what’s wrong because – let’s face it – everything seems wrong, from the coach to the players to the front office.

What’s a Flyers fan to do?

Hang in there, like always.  Celebrate when the Flyers finally win, because they will.  And hold out hope that, in a long season, the Orange and Black stop slumping, and start streaking, so we’re all holding our breath for a playoff run come the spring.   

Thanks to my friends @Flyerdelphia! Originally posted here.

My Hockey Night in Canada

We went to Montreal, y'all!

It was my first time there and I have to tell you, despite coming down with a nasty cold as soon as we landed, I loved it.  Highly recommend a long weekend there if you can swing it - short flight from Philly, beautiful city, amazing food, nice people.

We went to the Habs/Leafs game on Saturday October 24 at the Bell Center.  The Habs were still undefeated and the Center was on fire!

Literally.  They had the heat blasting in there like nobody's business.  Really different from WFC where it's freezing most of the time.  And on top of that, they were giving out Habs scarves!  To make you even warmer!

But seriously, what a great place to see a hockey game.  Not only because of the intense rivalry between the Habs and Leafs and the size of the Center itself, but because of the amazing fans, and the fact that the entire city is literally obsessed with the Habs and hockey.

I've never experienced anything like that before.  The signs on all of the buses say "GO HABS GO!"  Habs merchandise is sold at every corner store.  Tim Horton's - kind of like Dunks or Wawa - has signs in the window touting NHL trading cards with pictures of Sidney Crosby (of course).  At every restaurant, people are talking hockey - the waiters, patrons, bartenders, whoever.  Coming from Philly, where the Iggles dominate most conversations, it was awesome as a hockey fan to be in a city and country that is totally, absolutely 100% immersed in the sport.  

And I might be biased here but there were easily as many, if not more, female hockey fans at the game than men.  I loved it.  The woman sitting next to my hubs was the best, she hugged him every time the Habs scored and could have cared less that he didn't understand a word she was saying to him in French.  

Not gonna lie, it was fine to masquerade as a Habs fan for a few hours, but my heart wasn't really in it.  I'll always bleed Orange and Black.  

We made sure to give our Habs scarves to a true Habs fan before we flew back home.

Let the Sun Set on Sunrise

There's not much to say about last night's effort by the Flyers other than it was an unmitigated disaster.

Now, time to move on.  I think we will have a better sense of what to expect this season based on the team's response to that 7-1 slaughter.

Coach Hakstol hasn't been called one of the brightest minds in hockey for nothing.  Let's see how he gets his new team to rebound at the home opener Monday night. 

I hope the Flyers pick up momentum at the Wells Fargo Center tomorrow and carry it into Kimmo's retirement night on Wednesday.  Bold prediction:  the Orange and Black get back to back wins against the Panthers and the Hawks.

Then, game 2 would seem like nothing more than a blip on the radar.  

Meh

I know I'm in the minority here but I wasn't thrilled with the Flyers last night.

Yes, I get that they played toe-to-toe with the almighty Bolts.  I hate to break this to you: all but six teams were better than the Flyers last season so playing up to the competition is going to have to be the norm.  

Honestly, wasn't this game the same old, same old?  Flashes of brilliance but with a bad result.  Our top players pretty much invisible.  Missing penalty shots.  Turnovers (Giroux had a nasty one at the end of the 2nd while we were on the power play).  Gaining the lead only to lose it on a bad goal.  Losing in overtime.   

Losing the season opener for the fourth year in a row. (I know we got a point.  It would have been better to get two.) 

Call me a cynic.  I guess I'm just sick of seeing the Flyers lose when they can win. 

Women Matter - Taking the power away from Patrick Kane

Hockey's back!

The Flyers don't kick things off until tomorrow.  I figured I would watch the Blackhawks raise their sixth Stanley Cup championship banner tonight in Chicago, just because it's HOCKEY (and ha ha ha how does that Presidents' Trophy feel now Rangers?)

But given the events of the off-season, I can't lose the feeling of something else hanging over the United Center:  the specter of the ongoing sexual assault investigation against Patrick Kane.

In August, a young woman alleged that Kane raped her in his house after a night spent bar-hopping.  You'd think he might want to fly under the radar for a while.

Unfathomably, Kane's popularity has surged in light of the allegations.  The NHL has done nothing to lower his profile - in fact, they announced a Patrick Kane bobblehead night, and trotted him out for an appearance at a Bears game to hoist the Stanley Cup.  He received the loudest ovation from the crowd. 

The message from this rabid support for Kane is that money and stardom matter.  Women, seemingly, do not.  

Now get this:  Almost half of the Blackhawks fans are women. 

What is happening here?  Do women really hate each other this much?  

Forget about Kane's guilt or innocence; it's not for the public to decide.  There is power in numbers.  Imagine what would happen if 50% of Hawks fans decided not to spend money on the team as a show of solidarity with Kane's accuser because alleged crimes against women deserve as much care and consideration as all other alleged crimes of violence.  

The blow would land where it hurts - the bottom line. It would send a strong message to the NHL, professional sports, and the world that women matter.  

If a fraction of the people standing up for Kane on social media stood up for Kane's accuser we might be able to start a powerful conversation about violence against women.


Louis C.K. has tried; Amy Schumer too.  Unfortunately, their jokes are funny because it's true:  there is no greater threat to women than men.


Watch Lady Gaga's video about sexual assault here (warning, it's graphic).  Then think about this:  what if Kane's accuser was your wife, girlfriend, sister, or daughter?  If you're a woman, what if it was you?  Would you still leap to your feet and give him a standing ovation just because he's good at sports?

Tonight it is difficult to reconcile being a hockey fan with being a woman.  I think I'll skip the banner raising ceremony after all.