A YEAR IN REVIEW - PART 3

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A Year in Review - Part 3

2018 AND THE WACKY WORLD OF WHATEVER WE DO

BY MICHAEL HAYMAN

JANUARY, 2019

Nothing like a good, deep stat dive.

Here's a statistical unpacking of the past year, covering the last 8 weeks of the 2017-2018 regular season, and the first 12 weeks of the 2018-2019 season.

STANDINGS

We begin by looking back at the results from each month of 2018

JANUARY

GOAT and Mr. Trade had a January to forget on the ice. The White Stache dropped out of playoff contention. Brigade HK and Dick Cheese - two playoff bound teams - scuffled in the month and made the race for the final playoff spots interesting. State College MML hovered just above .500 for the month, which was close to par for the course for them up to that point in the season. Cerberus HC had a strong month, continuing their impressive play from the first 3 months of the season. Funky Cold Molina held on to the top overall spot in the standings with another great month. Fisher Kings charged towards a playoff spot with an excellent January, and HC Haymos began their recovery from a slow start with a .732 winning percentage in the month

FEBRUARY

Mr. Trade sold off what little assets they had left and held tight in the cellar. Fisher Kings started the year strong, then things went south fast, culminating in a dismal February. GOAT had a great month, compared to the rest of the season. The White Stache, Cerberus HC and State College MML finished with identical point totals in February. Good for the latter two, not so much for The White Stache, who needed a big month to make a move towards the playoffs. Dick Cheese solidified their playoff spot with a strong month, even moreso for HC Haymos. Funky Cold Molina locked up a first round bye, and the number one seed in the league with another consistently strong month, and Brigade HK may have shown on flash of what was to come through the playoffs, finishing with the best record of all teams in February.

OCTOBER

October is the first time we see Johnny Beamsville and Wilsonvillains HC on the standings page. Johnny Beamsville kicked off their second go-round in the league with the 3rd worst month, record-wise, to this point in the year. The Cambridge Tchuggs picked up where the Fisher Kings left off - playing poor hockey. Funky Cold Molina had a sub-.400 month after leading the league in winning percentage since the start of the 2017-18 season. The New England Sea Dogs, Brigade HK and Wilsonvillains all put up mediocre showings in October. Dick Cheese was expected to be better than the 6th-best record at this point. Stittsville Stache HC, GOAT and the Toronto High Rollers all missed the playoffs in 2017-18, and all 3 had very strong starts to their 2018-19. HC Haymos hit the ground running and picked up where they left off in February. No Fifty Mission Cup hangover for the Ancaster Villagers, who rocketed out to the best record in the league, and second-best month of the year so far.

NOVEMBER

Brigade HK went from bad to worse: the .225 winning percentage was the worst in 2018, by a fair margin. Johnny Beamsville starts the year with two months hovering around a .300 winning percentage. Funky Cold Molina was as bad in November as he was good in the first month of the year. Toronto High Rollers fell short of expectations with the 8th-worst record of the month. GOAT tripped up after a strong October with a sub-.500 November. Wilsonvillains caught up after a sub-.500 October with a strong November. The Cambridge Tchuggs started to turn their new season around with their best month since January. The New England Sea Dogs rebounded from a poor October and thrust themselves into the playoff discussion. HC Haymos and the Ancaster Villagers both start the year with .600+ winning percentage in each month. Stittsville Stache HC rocket into a playoff spot with their best month in years. Dick Cheese leads everyone in November and enters the discussion for best team in the NHFL.

DECEMBER

After a promising November, Wilsonvillains HC came crashing down in December. Brigade HK and Funky Cold Molina finish with identical bad records in December. Johnny Beamsville coming out of nowhere to easily post their best month to date. Ancaster Villagers, who entered the month in 1st place in the league, exit the month in 3rd place after a sub-.500 month. The New England Sea Dogs came back down to earth after a decent November. GOAT maintains their just-below-.500 mark in December. The Toronto High Rollers improve on their November, but still fall below expectations for the month. The Stittsville Stache HC reinforce that they are a team to be reckoned with. Dick Cheese and HC Haymos do battle for the top record in the league, with a matchup between the two being the only difference this season. Cambridge Tchugss go off in December, and continue their climb up the standings. The .783 winning percentage was the best of the year.

What does that all add up to?

Here's the full combined standings of NHFL franchises in 2018:

Some observations from the year-long totals:

HC Haymos knocked it out of the park, losing only 2 of 20 matchups all year (one to the Ancaster Villagers, one to Dick Cheese) on their way to a league best .635 winning % in 2018
Dick Cheese had the second best matchup record, while the Ancaster Villagers finished with the second best overall record.
Stittsville Stache HC have the 3rd best matchup W-L record from 2018
Funky Cold Molina finished with the best regular season record in the 2017-2018 season, but have the 3rd-worst W-L record in 2018.
Johnny Beamsville has some work to do.

TEAM STATISTICS

Below are the team stats for the 20 weeks that comprised 2018. Keep in mind that the totals for Wilsonvillains and Johnny Beamsville were accumulated over only 12 weeks, while every other team compiled their totals over the full 20 weeks.

Leaders in 2018:

Goals - 381 - Ancaster Villagers
Assists - 651 - Cambridge Tchuggs
+/- - 142 - HC Haymos
PIM - 815 - HC Haymos
PPP - 316 - HC Haymos

GWG - 63 - New England Sea Dogs
SOG - 3387 - HC Haymos
FOW - 2207 - Cambridge Tchuggs
Hits - 1847 - HC Haymos
BLK - 1317 - HC Haymos

Wins - 86 - Funky Cold Molina
GAA - 2.59 - Wilsonvillains
Saves - 4341 - Funky Cold Molina
SV% - .918 - Dick Cheese
SO - 12 - Stittsville Stache HC

The following lists out the best single-week performances in each category, in 2018.

Goals - 35 - Funky Cold Molina
Assists - 55 - HC Haymos
+/- - 31 - Cambridge Tchuggs
PIM - 91 - Toronto High Rollers
PPP - 33 - HC Haymos

GWG - 7 - New England Sea Dogs & Ancaster Villagers
SOG - 275 - Cambridge Tchuggs
FOW - 303 - Stittsville Stache HC
Hits - 162 - HC Haymos
BLK - 119 - Cambridge Tchuggs

Wins - 10 - Funky Cold Molina
GAA - 1.00 - GOAT
Saves - 378 - Funky Cold Molina
SV% - .973 - GOAT
SO - 2 - 7 times

PLAYER STATISTICS

There are some surprises when you look at the scoring leaders in 2018. The 7 players with 100 or more points jumps off the page, as do a number of names that aren't normally associated with discussion about league scoring leaders. Now we look forward to what 2019 will bring.

MICHAEL HAYMAN / HC HAYMOS