Dumb question....

[Jason Harris 31]

This is something that has bugged me for a long time. Maybe someone has been involved with the process and can assure me the process is legit.

Does someone really track the time on ice of each NHLer?

Think about it. Guys are constantly jumping on and off, sometimes for no more than eight seconds because maybe Jagr jumped on, so the B's want Hal Gill out there quickly. Even with a really slick computer program that turns it into touchscreen operation, I don't see how it's possible for even one person on each team to keep track of their players. They could be preoccupied with marking the time of one player while another has jumped on. Yet they always list each player to the second: 18:24, 12:47, 13:01.

So is this a myth, or are there really people in each arena who keep track of every NHLer? Inquiring minds want to know.... :D

[Neal 41]

Two ideas, either they have more than one guy doing it, or they do it off the video after the game is over.

[Eazy_b97 1]

NHL.com usually has up to the minute live updates, so I can't see it being done on replay.

[zingbergeur 0]

NBC likes to track the shifts of guys like Lidstrom and Blake for no good reason. I'm glad they didn't try that crap for the olympics. All it does is take up space on the TV screen. Does anyone else hate this as much as I do?

By the way, it seems like about 90% of NBC's hockey coverage is Detroit vs either Colorado or Dallas which also bothers me.

[wickedwrister 0]

By the way, it seems like about 90% of NBC's hockey coverage is Detroit vs either Colorado or Dallas which also bothers me.

Dou live in the Mid-West? It's usually by region.

[Chadd 916]

The NHL employs a stats crew in every city, I believe it used to be 3 guys. The AHL does the same thing on a smaller scale.

[DarkStar50 679]

I am 15 minutes from Continental Arena, home ice for the Devils. I have been in the "halo" at the top of the arena with a press pass. There is a crew of 4 guys up there employed by the NHL with laptops. They cover all those obscure stats like ice time, hits, faceoffs won, etc. With the laptop everything can be sent down to the press room at the end of the period by hitting "enter." The stats are printed out and passed out immediately. The league stopped doing this for a while because players had access to the stat info and would come into negotiations with their agents armed with stat info produced by the NHL! Of course, the NHL, living in the stone age, stopped the info tracking for a while! They have brought it back. At Continental the majority of NHL stat guys, penalty box door opener, etc are local referees.

[JR Boucicaut 3801]

Yep, my friend is an off-ice official for the Lightning. It's all computerized. Je explained the process for me. It's touch-screen and they touch the numbers of the guys who are on the ice, then switch them as they get off.

I have another friend who does off-ice for the Orlando minor league teams (Solar Bears/Seals)...they do it by hand!

As far as the bench goes, I have gone to NHL games and sat behind the bench and watched trainers calculate shift times for coaches. It's between :35-:45 a shift, then they pull them off.

[analog999 0]

I don't think it would be as much fun to watch the game if you were having to keep track of all the players on the ice. Especially by hand. Seems like they could put a small RF tracker in the jerseys - if it's on the ice it counts them while the clock is running, if they're off the side, they don't. Seems simple enough to me. -- Hey, I'm getting a patent for this idea :)

[DarkStar50 679]

This is a job and if you know any referees you know how serious they can be. My friends who do this are very serious about it because it is important to the NHL. The system they have works pretty easily.