It’s been a big summer for hockey stats. Hoping to improve their hockey intelligence, lots of teams have snatched up numbers-based hockey writers for the 2014-15 season. Even mainstream writers and pundits seem to be more open to some of the so-called advanced stats (which I don’t think is a good label).

Still, some people are still skeptical, or at least unclear, about the new stats. That makes sense; the community hasn’t always done a good job separating the jargon from the meaning those stats are conveying. To that purpose, I’ve made this short video to explain, visually, what Corsi, Fenwick, PDO, and Zone Starts actually mean.

If you’re not on board with the fancystats, this video could help. Consider this a crash course on the basics. Please feel free to share this video wherever you want– particularly wherever folks might get be getting confused.

If you have questions about anything in or beyond the video, ask ’em in the comments or on twitter or whatever. Even if I can’t answer, I bet someone else can.

A final note: Hardcore stat geeks may take issue with some of the generalizations I made in an effort to keep this introduction simple. That’s fine. I hope this video acts as a quick explainer that might encourage fans to learn more rather than as a comprehensive retelling of the accumulated hockey nerdery.

Further Reading