By Corbin Smeal
Imagine being one of the players on your hockey team that is a "healthy scratch" for the nights match-up. Your head coach pulls you into his office to explain his reasoning for sitting you out. You might be feeling a little down because you're not playing the game you love, but your coach offers a little beacon of hope. He says "I know I can rely on you and this is a big responsibility for our program. I need you to take stats on shots tonight." And hands you a clipboard with four little ice rink shaped ovals on it. You feel like this should be a relatively easy task because you were going to watch the game anyways, but little did you know that your coach will have you busy.
Ice hockey is one of the most difficult sports to take stats on because of its constant action and intense pace. And there still is a lot of manual labor that goes into taking note of everything that goes into the game. However, a company called HockeyTech is trying to eliminate the need for the old school pen and paper method of recording box scores. HockeyTech is in the process of developing a specific puck that confines to the traditional eight-ounce weight regulation with a chip embedded inside. This chip will be able to track team puck possession, shot speed, and time spent chasing loose pucks to name only a few of its many capabilities. HockeyTech is also researching how to do the same thing for individual players to track their play styles and contributions to the game.
HockeyTech is going to begin implementing these pucks and research devices in the NHL. However, I believe that there will be a day when college teams will rely on a laptop and data from these chips to assume the stat taking responsibility.
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