Pens vs Refs - Part 1 - PIM

Today marks the beginning of a new series on some box score data I put together. I'm trying to bring a different approach to looking at the stats by combining things in different ways.

This series is called "Pens vs Refs" and the general idea is to take a look at how different referees treat the Penguins as best I can. A few quick caveats, as usual when dealing with data about referees:

1. There are two referees at each game, and it's impossible to tell which referee made the penalty call. Any average data is unable to be directly correlated to one individual referee. It's more indicative of a trend than a specific indictment.
   
2. The box score data, while I believe it to be accurate, could have errors.
3. All data in this series is from the 2006-2007 season, unless I specifically state otherwise.

For the first post, let's take a look at who the Pens saw as a referee during the 2006-2007 season, and how many PIM were associated with that ref, on average.

The Pens saw all 37 NHL referees during 2006-2007. They saw eight guys three times or less. All of the others had a good chance to get a feel for the Pens, as they saw them four times or more.

The Pens were more penalized than the average team. Overall, the league average was 14.28 PIM at home and 13.38 on the road. The Pens were at 17.46 at home and 15.85 on the road.

Before we get to the table, here are a few points of interest:

• Anyone with less than 4 games really isn't fair to judge.
• All it takes is one big game and the numbers are skewed. For example, Dennis LaRue and Chris Rooney worked the January 20th game at the Igloo against Toronto. The Pens were called for 74 minutes in penalties. Don't feel like that completely throws things off, however, as Rooney averaged 17 PIM (above average) against the Pens on the road.

referee	Games	Avg PIM	Home Games	Home Avg PIM	Road Games	Road Avg PIM
Dennis LaRue	2	43	1	74	1	12
Francois St. Laurent	1	39	1	39	0	0
Chris Rooney	7	25.14	5	28.4	2	17
Kelly Sutherland	5	23.2	3	15.67	2	34.5
Eric Furlatt	6	20.33	4	21.25	2	18.5
Don Koharski	5	20	3	26.67	2	10
Dave Jackson	8	19.5	4	18.75	4	20.25
Brad Watson	7	19.43	6	19.17	1	21
Rob Shick	4	19.25	0	0	4	19.25
Greg Kimmerly	5	18.8	3	22.67	2	13
Dean Warren	8	17.75	2	19.5	6	17.17
Stephane Auger	4	17.75	3	20.33	1	10
Tom Kowal	6	17.33	2	12	4	20
Ian Walsh	5	17.2	2	11	3	21.33
Brad Meier	4	17	1	10	3	19.33
Craig Spada	5	16.6	1	23	4	15
Dan Marouelli	4	16.25	2	18.5	2	14
Gord Dwyer	5	16.2	2	6	3	23
Mick McGeough	1	16	1	16	0	0
Rob Martell	5	15.4	0	0	5	15.4
Mike Hasenfratz	4	15.25	2	17.5	2	13
Dan O'Rourke	5	15	3	19.67	2	8
Brian Pochmara	2	15	0	0	2	15
Bill McCreary	3	14.67	1	12	2	16
Marc Joannette	5	14.4	4	15.5	1	10
Justin St. Pierre	3	14.33	1	14	2	14.5
Steve Kozari	1	14	1	14	0	0
Tim Peel	4	13.75	1	16	3	13
Kerry Fraser	4	13.75	1	20	3	11.67
Paul Devorski	5	13.2	5	13.2	0	0
Mike Leggo	5	12.8	4	13.75	1	9
Kevin Pollock	4	11.75	1	10	3	12.33
Chris Lee	6	11.33	4	10.5	2	13
Don Van Massenhoven	5	10.4	2	8.5	3	11.67
Wes McCauley	5	8.4	2	7	3	9.33
Dan O'Halloran	5	8.2	3	6.33	2	11
Dean Morton	1	8	1	8	0	0

Tomorrow we'll add in two interesting pieces of information to this chart:

1. How many PIM were called on the opposition in these games?
2. How does the PIM deviate from the ref's numbers as a whole?