With the AWIHL regular season in the rear-view mirror, and with finals weekend rapidly approaching, now is a good time to take a statistical look at the season thus far.

Have you stayed awake at night wondering which team had the most hat-trick heroes? The most shots for, the least shots against? The most efficient special teams units? If you answered yes to any of those questions and more, then look no further. This is the article for you!

Hat-Trick Heroes

Nothing compares to the excitement of scoring a hat-trick in hockey, a treasured memory for any goal-scorer and fans of their team. This season, AWIHL fans were treated to no less than 13 hat-tricks in the 30 game regular season. Nadine Edney (Sydney), Kayla Nielsen (Sydney) and Christina Julien (Melbourne) managed the feat twice. Natalie Ayris (Adelaide), Tash Farrier (Adelaide), Stephenie Cochrane (Sydney), Sharna Godfrey (Sydney), Sara Sammons (Perth), Michelle Clark-Crumpton (Perth), and Elizabeth Scala (Perth) also scored hat-tricks.

On 9 of 13 occasions the hat-trick hero was on home ice. Perth and Brisbane each watched the opposition celebrate the personal trifecta 6 times, Sydney watched on once. Neither Adelaide nor Melbourne gave up a hat-trick to their opponent.

In the final reckoning, Sydney topped the hat-trick charts with 4 players combining to record 6 hat-tricks. Perth came second with 3, followed by the Rush and Ice, each with 2. Brisbane was the lone team unable to furnish a hat-trick hero. Following is the list, sorted by team, of the hat-trick scorers and their opponent on the day.

Adelaide Rush (2)

Natalie Ayris – Oct 27 vs Perth (Home)

Tash Farrier – Nov 9 vs Perth (Away)

Brisbane Goannas (0)

Melbourne Ice (2)

Christina Julien – Dec 7 vs Perth (Home)

Christina Julien – Jan 12 vs Perth (Away)

Perth Inferno (3)

Sara Sammons – Nov 2 vs Sydney (Away)

Michelle Clark-Crumpton – Jan 19 vs Brisbane (Home)

Elizabeth Scala – Jan 19 vs Brisbane (Home)

Sydney Sirens (6)

Nadine Edney – Nov 2 vs Perth (Home)

Stephenie Cochrane – Nov 3 vs Perth (Home)

Kayla Nielsen – Nov 16 vs Brisbane (Home)

Nadine Edney – Nov 17 vs Brisbane (Home)

Kayla Nielsen – Nov 17 vs Brisbane (Home)

Sharna Godfrey – Jan 11 vs Brisbane (Away)

Special Teams

When a team’s powerplay percentage and penalty killing percentage adds up to over 100%, head coaches are happy knowing they should have an edge in special teams.

Team PPG PPO PP% PPGA TSH PK% Total % SHGF SHGA Real +/- Adelaide 9 59 0.152542 11 66 0.833333 0.985876 4 0 2 Brisbane 8 55 0.145455 16 53 0.698113 0.843568 0 4 -12 Melbourne 14 66 0.212121 17 80 0.7875 0.999621 2 0 -1 Perth 16 58 0.275862 12 63 0.809524 1.085386 1 6 -1 Sydney 19 83 0.228916 10 59 0.830508 1.059424 4 1 12 Special Teams Statistics

A quick glance at the numbers shows the Perth Inferno as having the highest total of 108.5%. However, when shorthanded goals for and against are incorporated, Perth actually finished -1 in total goals on special teams due to allowing a league-worst 6 shorthanded goals.

Sydney, finishing second in special teams percentage with 105.9%, finished with a +12 goals scored ratio, buoyed in part by their 4 shorthanded goals for and only 1 shorthanded goal allowed.

Adelaide were the only other team to finish with a plus ratio on special teams, recording +2. Both Adelaide and Melbourne (-1 ratio) finished just below the 100% threshold with 98.6% and 99.996% respectively. And Brisbane, well, Brisbane struggled. But Brisbane can take solace in the fact that Adelaide went from last-place to second-place in a single season.

Save Percentage

Adelaide Rush enjoyed the best goaltending in the league this season. Their netminders posted a combined save percentage of .882. The average goaltending save percentage in the league was .873, so anything above that figure is impressive.

Melbourne Ice finished second in that category with .878. Third-place is Brisbane with .877. Brisbane’s struggles this season certainly were not statistically a result of poor goaltending. Sydney finished fourth with .876, and Perth came last with .861.

Shot Percentage

Using the same figures for save percentage, we can conclude that since the league average save percentage was .873, average shot percentage must be .127. Anything above that number is indicative of a team that either uses better shot selection, were more skilled at shooting the puck, were the recipients of a lot of luck, or a combination of all those things.

The league leaders in the category were, unsurprisingly, the team that bulged the twine more often than anyone else, the Sydney Sirens. Their shooting percentage of .143 bested the second place Perth Inferno’s .140.

Adelaide and Melbourne had below average numbers of .120 and .125 respectively. Brisbane managed a mere .099.

Shot-Share

Shot share is one of the most reliable indicators of long-term success that we have in the world of hockey. There are certainly limitations to assessing shots for and against, currently there is not a lot of information available in the AWIHL regarding shot location that can help us sort out the difference between a high-danger chance from the slot and a muffin from the blue line.

However, as it is all we have, we will take it, warts and all. The results are actually reflective of the standings themselves. Here are the results, in order of how teams finished in the standings.

Team Shots For Shots Against Shots +/- Total Shots Shot-Share Sydney 504 332 172 836 0.602871 Adelaide 487 280 207 767 0.634941 Melbourne 400 336 64 736 0.543478 Perth 434 485 -51 919 0.472252 Brisbane 180 572 -392 752 0.239362 Team Shot Totals

Brisbane can be grateful for above average league goaltending. The figures show they had less than 24% of the shot-share. In contrast, Adelaide Rush allowed by far the fewest shots, and generated the second most, giving them 63.5% shot-share. Sydney came second, Melbourne third, and Perth fourth.

The importance of these numbers are reinforced by the standings themselves, almost perfectly mirroring shot-share rankings.

Conclusion

I’ll post some tables at the end of this article for each team that you might find interesting that includes goals, shots, save percentage etc. on a game by game basis, along with season averages. I hope you found this interesting. Statistics were pulled from esportsdesk, check them out for other information, such as individual scorers.

In the meantime, the finals weekend of February 1 and 2 is rapidly approaching.

Fans can buy tickets to the finals series from finals.awihllive.com. The tickets are very reasonably priced and it’s a great way to watch the greatest live sport on earth, escape the summer heat, and spend a Saturday and/or Sunday afternoon in a family-friendly environment.

If you can’t get to Docklands to watch the games, the AWIHL are broadcasting the games via their YouTube channel. Please be sure to subscribe. They are so close to hitting their goal of 1,000 subscribers, so if you haven’t already done so, you know what to do.

If you want to follow me on Twitter (CanStrayan) where I yell about random hockey stuff, click here. Also, give Hockey Embassy a like on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to keep up to date with our latest hockey articles. Make sure you follow the AWIHL twitter account here, follow them on Facebook here, and enjoy your week!

Adelaide Rush

Opponent Home/Away Shots For Goals For SH% Shots Against Goals Against SH% Shots +/- SV% Perth Home 36 7 0.194444444 32 4 0.125 4 0.875 Perth Home 41 6 0.146341463 26 5 0.192307692 15 0.807692 Perth Away 34 7 0.205882353 32 5 0.15625 2 0.84375 Perth Away 34 4 0.117647059 30 3 0.1 4 0.9 Brisbane Home 59 7 0.118644068 8 1 0.125 51 0.875 Brisbane Home 51 7 0.137254902 12 0 0 39 1 Brisbane Away 40 2 0.05 7 0 0 33 1 Brisbane Away 52 6 0.115384615 9 2 0.222222222 43 0.777778 Sydney Home 43 3 0.069767442 39 3 0.076923077 4 0.923077 Sydney Home 35 5 0.142857143 33 5 0.151515152 2 0.848485 Melbourne Away 28 2 0.071428571 29 4 0.137931034 -1 0.862069 Melbourne Away 34 2 0.058823529 23 3 0.130434783 11 0.869565 Average 40.58333333 4.833333333 0.119039633 23.33333333 2.916666667 0.118131997 17.25 0.881868 Total 487 58 N/A 280 35 N/A 207 N/A Adelaide Rush Statistics

Brisbane Goannas

Opponent Home/Away Shots For Goals For SH% Shots Against Goals Against SH% Shots +/- SV% Melbourne Home 16 1 0.0625 39 3 0.076923077 -23 0.923077 Melbourne Home 17 3 0.176470588 37 1 0.027027027 -20 0.972973 Sydney Away 10 1 0.1 67 12 0.179104478 -57 0.820896 Sydney Away 16 1 0.0625 56 10 0.178571429 -40 0.821429 Adelaide Away 8 1 0.125 59 7 0.118644068 -51 0.881356 Adelaide Away 12 0 0 51 7 0.137254902 -39 0.862745 Adelaide Home 7 0 0 40 2 0.05 -33 0.95 Adelaide Home 9 2 0.222222222 52 6 0.115384615 -43 0.884615 Sydney Home 16 1 0.0625 44 5 0.113636364 -28 0.886364 Sydney Home 13 4 0.307692308 42 7 0.166666667 -29 0.833333 Perth Away 27 1 0.037037037 44 4 0.090909091 -17 0.909091 Perth Away 29 1 0.034482759 41 9 0.219512195 -12 0.780488 Average 15 1.333333333 0.099200409 47.66666667 6.083333333 0.122802826 -32.6667 0.877197 Total 180 16 N/A 572 73 N/A -392 N/A Brisbane Goannas Statistics

Melbourne Ice

Opponent Home/Away Shots For Goals For SH% Shots Against Goals Against SH% Shots +/- SV% Brisbane Away 39 3 0.076923077 16 1 0.0625 23 0.9375 Brisbane Away 37 1 0.027027027 17 3 0.176470588 20 0.823529 Sydney Home 22 2 0.090909091 18 3 0.166666667 4 0.833333 Sydney Home 19 1 0.052631579 37 3 0.081081081 -18 0.918919 Perth Home 40 6 0.15 37 4 0.108108108 3 0.891892 Perth Home 35 7 0.2 29 4 0.137931034 6 0.862069 Sydney Away 15 3 0.2 19 3 0.157894737 -4 0.842105 Sydney Away 47 7 0.14893617 34 5 0.147058824 13 0.852941 Perth Away 42 7 0.166666667 43 2 0.046511628 -1 0.953488 Perth Away 52 6 0.115384615 24 6 0.25 28 0.75 Adelaide Home 29 4 0.137931034 28 2 0.071428571 1 0.928571 Adelaide Home 23 3 0.130434783 34 2 0.058823529 -11 0.941176 Average 33.33333333 4.166666667 0.124737004 28 3.166666667 0.122039564 5.333333 0.87796 Total 400 50 N/A 336 38 N/A 64 N/A Melbourne Ice Statistics

Perth Inferno

Opponent Home/Away Shots For Goals For SH% Shots Against Goals Against SH% Shots +/- SV% Adelaide Away 32 4 0.125 36 7 0.194444444 -4 0.805556 Adelaide Away 26 5 0.192307692 41 6 0.146341463 -15 0.853659 Sydney Away 48 9 0.1875 54 10 0.185185185 -6 0.814815 Sydney Away 48 3 0.0625 61 7 0.114754098 -13 0.885246 Adelaide Home 32 5 0.15625 34 7 0.205882353 -2 0.794118 Adelaide Home 30 3 0.1 34 4 0.117647059 -4 0.882353 Melbourne Away 37 4 0.108108108 40 6 0.15 -3 0.85 Melbourne Away 29 4 0.137931034 35 7 0.2 -6 0.8 Melbourne Home 43 2 0.046511628 42 7 0.166666667 1 0.833333 Melbourne Home 24 6 0.25 52 6 0.115384615 -28 0.884615 Brisbane Home 44 4 0.090909091 27 1 0.037037037 17 0.962963 Brisbane Home 41 9 0.219512195 29 1 0.034482759 12 0.965517 Average 36.16666667 4.833333333 0.139710812 40.41666667 5.75 0.138985473 -4.25 0.861015 Total 434 58 N/A 485 69 N/A -51 N/A Perth Inferno Statistics

Sydney Sirens

Opponent Home/Away Shots For Goals For SH% Shots Against Goals Against SH% Shots +/- SV% Perth Home 54 10 0.185185185 48 9 0.1875 6 0.8125 Perth Home 61 7 0.114754098 48 3 0.0625 13 0.9375 Brisbane Home 67 12 0.179104478 10 1 0.1 57 0.9 Brisbane Home 56 10 0.178571429 16 1 0.0625 40 0.9375 Melbourne Away 18 3 0.166666667 22 2 0.090909091 -4 0.909091 Melbourne Away 37 3 0.081081081 19 1 0.052631579 18 0.947368 Adelaide Away 39 3 0.076923077 43 3 0.069767442 -4 0.930233 Adelaide Away 33 5 0.151515152 35 5 0.142857143 -2 0.857143 Melbourne Home 19 3 0.157894737 15 3 0.2 4 0.8 Melbourne Home 34 5 0.147058824 47 7 0.14893617 -13 0.851064 Brisbane Away 44 5 0.113636364 16 1 0.0625 28 0.9375 Brisbane Away 42 7 0.166666667 13 4 0.307692308 29 0.692308 Average 42 6.083333333 0.143254813 27.66666667 3.333333333 0.123982811 14.33333 0.876017 Total 504 73 N/A 332 40 N/A 172 N/A Sydney Sirens Statistics