Sparky here. Or to others who know me Sparkalicious, Sparkplug, or just plain Spark.
My first article for PSR comes at the heels of the World Cup of Hockey being played this September in Toronto. I am a little surprised to hear that 90% of tickets are sold. I thought Toronto hockey fans would not spend their hard earned money on an event that, really, is a lot to do about nothing. Yes, the hockey will be entertaining. The ‘young guns North America’ team will be cool to watch. But what is up for grabs?? If the young guns win, what have they really won?? They are not a nation that can wave their flag or have fans march down the streets in celebration. Same for the ‘team Europe’ – although a long shot to make it in past the round robin portion.
The NHL will have some cool tools being introduced during this tournament as they have partnered with Sportvision. Through technology embedded into the puck and small devices inserted into the back of the player jerseys, and infrared cameras stationed throughout the arena, Sportvision will be able to capture real-time information so it can be fed to broadcast partners ESPN and Sportsnet.
The data captured will feature puck and player speed, puck trajectory, distance traveled for players and the puck, player ice time, zone time, shots, shot distance, shot direction, and possession information. A real analytics climax!
Anyway, PSR was kind enough to ask me to put some in depth predictions together for this tournament. Here is my analysis after much thought and consideration:
Canada wins. The team with everyone Canadian – oh ya, and must be 23 years of age or older.
