Goaltender Game-by-Game Logs (1965-66 to present) and research questions

[Doctor No]

Hi all -

For those of you who aren't aware of my projects, one of them is to catalog each game played by each goaltender in National Hockey League history. The point of this is for researchers and enthusiasts to see streaks, big games, records against different teams, or anything else that one might like to see on a game-by-game basis. It also feeds my variability and strength of schedule calculations.

This afternoon, I've added the 1982-83 and 1983-84 seasons to the website, giving 32 NHL seasons of data for individuals to play with. I've still got some (minor) outstanding questions to address; if you have access to media guides or hometown newspapers, please check out my full list here:

http://www.hockeygoalies.org/stats/discrepancies.html

The game logs are at the bottom of each goaltender's individual page, under "NHL GAME LOGS" (click on the header to expand). Hopefully at that point, the details are obvious, but please let me know if you feel otherwise. Blue games are shutouts, green games are playoffs, and red games are all-star games.

With these two new seasons, I've now completed the entire game history for any goaltender who started in 1982-83 or 1983-84. They are listed here (with links to directly view their game logs):

Goaltenders who made their NHL debut in 1982-83:
Tim Bernhardt
Frank Caprice
Ken Ellacott
Bob Froese
Brian Hayward
Gary Laskoski
Shawn MacKenzie
Roberto Romano
Mike Vernon

Goaltenders who made their NHL debut in 1983-84:
Tom Barrasso
Marc Behrend
Allan Bester
Jon Casey
Bruce Dowie
Brian Ford
Mario Gosselin
Kelly Hrudey
Bob Janecyk
Bob Mason
Steve Penney
Ron Scott
Ken Wregget

Also, there are goaltenders who finished their NHL careers in these two seasons, and from my point of view, their game logs have only just begun (unless they're also on the above list, of course):

Goaltenders whose last NHL season was in 1982-83:
Steve Baker
John Davidson
Ken Ellacott
Gilles Gilbert
Shawn MacKenzie
Lindsay Middlebrook
Robbie Moore
Phil Myre
Bob Parent
Nick Ricci
Jim Rutherford

Goaltenders whose last NHL season was in 1983-84:
Mike Blake
Jim Craig
Bruce Dowie
Tony Esposito
Ken Holland
Michel Larocque
Gary Laskoski
Mario Lessard
Markus Mattsson
Mike Moffat
Mike Palmateer
Dave Parro
Vincent Tremblay
Mike Veisor

A lot of my favorite goaltenders on the lists above, and hopefully some of yours, too.

Anyhow, enjoy the logs - if you discover something interesting (Froese's record-setting NHL start, and Peeters' run 1982-83 are both nice areas to start), please speak up here. If you're inclined to make the logs even better, please let me know if you see an error, and/or check out the "help" site above. Thanks!

Click to read more...

 

[Doctor No]

Also, although it was not my sole (or even primary) source, I am indebted to the Hockey Summary Project for their role in this.

I'd been stuck on 1983-84 since I was a professor ten years ago, simply because of a lack of access to the necessary newspaper microfilm. This project simply would not be possible without their efforts.

 

[quoipourquoi]

Thanks, Doctor No (Taco, Chalupa)! I use your website all of the time, so all of the hard work is definitely appreciated!

 

[Doctor No]

Thanks! That's my main goal - is to get people using it. It's a reasonably esoteric subject matter, after all. As an aside, I can't believe that the page will turn twenty on March 5th. As far as I can tell (and I *have* looked), it's the oldest still-active sports site on the internet.

I found out recently that two (that I know of) NHL teams' broadcast crews use the data on the page; that was a pretty exciting morning.

 

[Doctor No]

One thing I should have added above - with these two additions, I now have the complete game log history of the New Jersey Devils franchise (which moved in the summer of 1982):

http://hockeygoalies.org/bio/nhl/newjersey.html

The difference between Chico Resch's actual W/L record in 1982-83 (15-35-12) and his support-neutral W/L record in 1982-83 (31-31) is interesting.

 

[Doctor No]

I'll put more of this in the Numbers forum, but something I noticed about Pete Peeters' amazing season in 1982-83. Of course, Peeters is the only goaltender to win the Vezina unanimously (since it went to a voting-based criterion).

Well, I ran my strength of schedule metrics on 1982-83 and 1983-84 tonight. Not only was Peeters not sheltered, but...

Peeters' typical opponent during the 1982-83 season was 0.02 goals below average (that is, they would be expected to lose to an average opponent, on neutral ice, by about 0.02 goals).

This isn't particularly unusual - Boston was an above average team, so one would expect their typical opponent to be below average (since they don't have to play themselves). However...

Boston's other goaltenders in 1982-83 were Mike Moffat and Marco Baron. Moffat's typical opponent was 0.45 goals worse than average, while Baron's typical opponent was 0.30 goals worse than average.

Despite this, Peeters' save percentage was 3.4 standard deviations above average (with what looks to be a rather pedestrian 90.4% save percentage. One of the reasons why we must normalize these things for era). Moffat? 2.8 SD *below* average, with Baron 0.8 SD below average.

All hail Pete Peeters.

 

[yukoner88]

Whats V-style?

I clicked on Bob Essensa and that's said to be his style, and I've never heard of that before

 

[Doctor No]

Good question - I should probably elaborate on that a bit more; it was more common when I started the page way back.

The "inverted V" was coined (I believe) by Ian Young in the late 1980s, and probably best describes the last generation of "standup" goaltenders - Kirk McLean, Essensa, Ranford to some degree. It's not a true "standup" style, per se.

A downside of my choice to present a static definition of a goaltender's style is that (of course) styles change over time. In particular, Essensa incorporated many butterfly elements into his game as he aged.

 

[McGuillicuddy]

All hail Pete Peeters.

I'm not sure I have ever read those words together before. Or will again .

 

[Doctor No]

I'm not sure I have ever read those words together before. Or will again .

He wasn't exactly friendly with the media, or anyone else for that matter.

But it was a tremendous season!

 

[yukoner88]

Good question - I should probably elaborate on that a bit more; it was more common when I started the page way back.

The "inverted V" was coined (I believe) by Ian Young in the late 1980s, and probably best describes the last generation of "standup" goaltenders - Kirk McLean, Essensa, Ranford to some degree. It's not a true "standup" style, per se.

A downside of my choice to present a static definition of a goaltender's style is that (of course) styles change over time. In particular, Essensa incorporated many butterfly elements into his game as he aged.

Is this in regards to how the goalies went down on one knee to make a kick save?

 

[Doctor No]

Is this in regards to how the goalies went down on one knee to make a kick save?

I think of it more as how the "ready stance" looks - McLean, like the most recent generation of "standup" goaltenders, had a lot more weight on the insides of his skates than older goaltenders:

I couldn't find a good "ready" shot of Plante that wasn't posed, so I picked one that (I felt) most representative of that.

 

[Doctor No]

I looked up what Ian Young has to say about it (page 90 of "Behind the Mask"): "knees together, feet slightly apart". As compared to standup, which he describes as "feet together".

I'd say that in the "inverted V", feet are more than "slightly" apart.

 

[Pominville Knows]

Can i find box-scores from the 82-83 season?

 

[Doctor No]

Can i find box-scores from the 82-83 season?

The Hockey Summary Project has full boxscores for 1982-83.

For things that are generally recorded in newspaper accounts (like goalscoring, penalties, et cetera) I'd call them 99.5% accurate.

For things that are typically not recorded in newspaper accounts, I'd call them 80-85% accurate. That's my primary motivation for completing my game log project (since goaltender statistics are typically in that category in the case where multiple goaltenders shared a net).

Even at that level of accuracy, it's a tremendous endeavor and one of my favorite sites.

 

[Doctor No]

Something else I noticed in the course of working on the 1981-82 logs...

Tony Esposito was still a pretty decent goalie in 1982-83 (15 goals above average at the age of 39). The following year, he was approximately replacement level in 18 appearances.

Despite that, in a total of 57 regular-season games and 5 postseason games, Esposito was never pulled by coach Orval Tessier. And there was some stinkers (evident by the game logs). (Espo also never came into the game as a sub).

Was there a gentleman's agreement not to mess with an old Esposito? A bit surprising considering that Espo and Tessier had feud through much of the 1984 winter/spring (Esposito didn't play at all after February 5, and refused to play in the finale on April 1).

 

[JoeCanuk]

Love this! Found the first NHL game I've went to. I remembered the year and the score but not who the goalies were or the date. Thanks.

 

[Doctor No]

Absolutely! Glad to help.

Today's the 20th anniversary of my page. I celebrated by getting hit in the nuts with a slapshot during my skate this morning.

 

[Killion]

Absolutely! Glad to help.

Today's the 20th anniversary of my page. I celebrated by getting hit in the nuts with a slapshot during my skate this morning.

Congrats!.... on the sites anniversary.... not the other..... Hell of a thing....

 

[Doctor No]

Thanks! People ask why I wear six protective cups...

 

[Killion]

Thanks! People ask why I wear six protective cups...

Ya. But even still. Like a percussion bomb goin off in your stomach & groin. Like being hit in the face with a molded mask. Rather than "pain" in one area, dissipates, frikin multiplies.... you get nailed down there badly, wanna die. Fetal position on the ice. No. Not pretty.... and I was a mean player as a kid playing Road Hockey. Deadly accurate with a tennis ball, wicked Bobby Hull Slapper. Deliberately targeted more than one or two and I know players did same on the ice.... Rather amusing if your sick, bent. Highly entertaining. Seein some poor guy collapse like that. Dunno why we laugh about it but yes, Guilty as charged though never admitted it so many years ago.... still remember & can erupt into hysterics thinkin about poor little Tommy there from across the street goin down like he'd been shot. Nice kid too. Dont know what I was thinkin. Goin to Hell for sure I guess.

 

[Doctor No]

I never got the chance to wear a fitted mask in game action (fortunately). Our coach at CU was the Blackhawks' practice goalie for awhile in the 1960s, and he would occasionally come out to practice wearing that thing. The skaters were afraid to hit him in the head because they didn't want to be cut.

 

[JoeCanuk]

Absolutely! Glad to help.

Today's the 20th anniversary of my page. I celebrated by getting hit in the nuts with a slapshot during my skate this morning.

Congrats Chalupa Batman. On the anniversary of course. Dang, hope you can walk in the morning.

 

[JoeCanuk]

Rather than quote the last few posts you guys made I will just answer to them all with:

 

[Doctor No]

I've now updated my logs for 1980-81 and 1981-82 seasons.

I'll be updating the statistics that follow from this - game-to-game variation, above average/below average games, strength of schedule metrics, and goaltender goal support - this afternoon.

The following goaltenders' NHL careers began in 1980-81 or 1981-82 (which means that I now have their complete careers in my logs):
Don Beaupre
Mike Blake
Jacques Cloutier
Grant Fuhr
Rick Heinz
Mark Holden
Ken Holland
Al Jensen
Jari Kaarela
Rick Laferriere
Claude Legris
Pelle Lindbergh
Ron Loustel
Larry Lozinski
Clint Malarchuk
Rollie Melanson
Corrado Micalef
Mike Moffat
Andy Moog
Paul Pageau
Bob Parent
Dave Parro
Paul Skidmore
Warren Skorodenski
Greg Stefan
John Vanbiesbrouck
Rick Wamsley
Steve Weeks

The following goaltenders' NHL careers ended in 1980-81 or 1981-82 (which means that I finally have some of their data in my logs):
Hardy Astrom
Rollie Boutin
Gary Bromley
Jiri Crha
Gary Edwards
Ron Grahame
Pierre Hamel
Paul Harrison
Robbie Holland
Gary Inness
Steve Janaszak
Jari Kaarela
Rick Laferriere
Claude Legris
Pete LoPresti
Ron Loustel
Larry Lozinski
Paul Pageau
Michel Plasse
Curt Ridley
Paul Skidmore
Al Smith
Wayne Stephenson
Wayne Thomas
Rogie Vachon