Long time no graph, sorry about that. We have been having trouble getting InStat data in time for a recap article. It’s not quite the same, but I do plan on posting a “article” around the same time as this one with the graphs from the previous weeks that didn’t get a recap article now that InStat has caught up on them. Those games won’t be getting analysis for each graph, but at least the pretty charts will be up for y’all to look at. Anyways, Tech played Ferris last weekend. Let’s take a look at that.
Friday, November 17th Michigan Tech 2 – Ferris State 3 (OT)
I really would have expected this to look more in favor of the Huskies to be honest. It felt like Tech was controlling play significantly more than Ferris State, but at least in the first two periods the xG totals did not reflect that. The Huskies did press pretty hard in the third period, but despite that they were unable to bury a goal to secure the win on Friday night before unfortunately falling in OT.
Taking a look at the shot map, I can start to see a bit of why it felt like Tech was in control most of the night despite staying close in xG most of the night. They had significantly more shots than the Bulldogs, and presumably spent the majority of the night with the puck on their stick. But a lot of the shots the Huskies took were from the top of the circle and a decent number of them were towards the outside. While shots from the top of the circle can go in, unless you’re Alex Ovechkin it isn’t very likely. Ferris on the other hand had a lot less shots overall, but they had about the same number of high quality chances in close.
Jack Works good. Ok, now that I’ve gotten that out of my system we can move onto to something you might not know: Matthew Campbell good. But seriously, the Huskies have sorely missed having Campbell in the lineup the past three weeks. He had an excellent weekend being near the lead in ice time both nights while having over 70% on ice xG which is very impressive. I really hope he can stay healthy so we can see if he is able to play like this consistently, he has a ton of potential.
Saturday, November 18th Michigan Tech 3 – Ferris State 2
That’s whatcha like to see, a fast start followed up by consistent play the rest of the game despite giving up the first goal after outplaying Ferris the first twelve minutes. Overall just a very good game from the Huskies, both offensively and defensively. As a Tech fan, and more importantly a nerd, its always nice to see games like this where the team who plays better according to the stats gets the win.
So once again, Tech had more shots from the southwest corner of their offensive zone than I would like to see. But they also had more shots from the slot on Saturday and would you believe it, they scored three times from those high danger chances! That’s whatcha like to see.
Jack Works good. Matthew Campbell good. Is this the time that I mention that only me and @mumsterburner on the discord have picked Raiman as our predictions for player of the series so far this year? Yeah it’s time. Has he actually won a player of the series yet, well no. But should he have? According to the boring old stats like goals and assists, probably not. But he has looked very good according to the advanced stats. All I’m saying is the kid is due, he has looked very good and I expect that he is gonna get some bounces and pot a few sooner than later.
No thoughts, just vibes
Closing Time
I hope you enjoyed taking a look at some nice charts and graphs with me. If you have any questions about the charts, my analysis, or just want to say hello, please leave a comment or reach out to me on the THG discord server (@Augie) and I’d be happy to try and answer your questions.
Special thanks to Livonia Technical Services for being the official sponsor of all InStat analytics at Tech Hockey Guide
