The Referees - Part 8 - Shots

In the last part, we saw what looked like a correlation between fewer penalty minutes and more goals. In this part, we'll see if that holds up for shots, since total shots can be a better measure of the action and offense in a game in my opinion.

In this one, the case is even more solid. The refs in games with the fewest penalty minutes are usually in the games with more shots, and thus more offense. I'm not sure why this is the case. About the only thing I can think of is that shots on the power play are fewer and father between then shots in play at even strength. Anyone else have any ideas?

Here are a few fun facts:

• The average NHL game in 2006-2007 had 59.13 shots. 28.55 were taken by the home team and 30.57 by the road team.
• The top 9 refs in PIM per game are in the bottom half of shots per game. The top three are in the bottom six.

Here are the stats - I'm listing (much like yesterday) the ref, their PIM ranking and their shots per game.

Ref	PIM Rank	Shots Avg
Eric Furlatt	18	61.81
Brian Pochmara	10	61.8
Kevin Pollock	20	60.29
Dean Warren	27	59.96
Paul Devorski	34	59.95
Marc Joannette	30	59.86
Bill McCreary	26	59.75
Dan O'Halloran	22	59.66
Tim Peel	35	59.57
Gord Dwyer	14	59.48
Dean Morton	33	59.44
Dan O'Rourke	16	59.43
Mick McGeough	17	59.37
Don Van Massenhoven	19	59.35
Rob Shick	25	59.21
Wes McCauley	37	59.2
Rob Martell	28	59.19
Brad Watson	9	59.18
Chris Lee	6	59.16
Kerry Fraser	31	59.16
Don Koharski	11	59.08
Ian Walsh	13	59.04
Chris Rooney	4	58.96
Dan Marouelli	29	58.84
Justin St. Pierre	21	58.79
Craig Spada	5	58.66
Mike Leggo	36	58.65
Kelly Sutherland	24	58.6
Mike Hasenfratz	8	58.51
Greg Kimmerly	32	58.51
Steve Kozari	1	58.38
Dennis LaRue	2	58.34
Brad Meier	7	58.34
Francois St. Laurent	15	58.19
Dave Jackson	3	57.74
Stephane Auger	23	57.64
Tom Kowal	12	57.58

So this post marks the end of my first series on different ways of looking at the NHL statistical data. I've really enjoyed writing it. I hope you're enjoying it too. If you are, spread the word - I think many more people might enjoy seeing this stuff.

Over the weekend, I'll post the introduction to the next series. I'm not sure if I'll do another one on the referees, or if I'll take a look at some player data. I have a few ideas, so we'll see what happens.

Here are the previous parts in the series:
Introduction
Part 1 - High PIM
Part 2 - Low PIM
Part 3 - Home / Road Intro
Part 4 - Home PIM Rankings
Part 5 - Road PIM Rankings
Part 6 - PIM Spread
Part 7 - Goals