With the AWIHL regular season in the rear-view mirror, and with finals weekend rapidly approaching, now is a good time to take a statistical look at the season thus far.

Have you stayed awake at night wondering which team had the most hat-trick heroes? The most shots for, the least shots against? The most efficient special teams units? If you answered yes to any of those questions and more, then look no further. This is the article for you!

Hat-Trick Heroes

Nothing compares to the excitement of scoring a hat-trick in hockey, a treasured memory for any goal-scorer and fans of their team. This season, AWIHL fans were treated to no less than 13 hat-tricks in the 30 game regular season. Nadine Edney (Sydney), Kayla Nielsen (Sydney) and Christina Julien (Melbourne) managed the feat twice. Natalie Ayris (Adelaide), Tash Farrier (Adelaide), Stephenie Cochrane (Sydney), Sharna Godfrey (Sydney), Sara Sammons (Perth), Michelle Clark-Crumpton (Perth), and Elizabeth Scala (Perth) also scored hat-tricks.

On 9 of 13 occasions the hat-trick hero was on home ice. Perth and Brisbane each watched the opposition celebrate the personal trifecta 6 times, Sydney watched on once. Neither Adelaide nor Melbourne gave up a hat-trick to their opponent.

In the final reckoning, Sydney topped the hat-trick charts with 4 players combining to record 6 hat-tricks. Perth came second with 3, followed by the Rush and Ice, each with 2. Brisbane was the lone team unable to furnish a hat-trick hero. Following is the list, sorted by team, of the hat-trick scorers and their opponent on the day.

Adelaide Rush (2)
Natalie Ayris – Oct 27 vs Perth (Home)
Tash Farrier – Nov 9 vs Perth (Away)

Brisbane Goannas (0)

Melbourne Ice (2)
Christina Julien – Dec 7 vs Perth (Home)
Christina Julien – Jan 12 vs Perth (Away)

Perth Inferno (3)
Sara Sammons – Nov 2 vs Sydney (Away)
Michelle Clark-Crumpton – Jan 19 vs Brisbane (Home)
Elizabeth Scala – Jan 19 vs Brisbane (Home)

Sydney Sirens (6)
Nadine Edney – Nov 2 vs Perth (Home)
Stephenie Cochrane – Nov 3 vs Perth (Home)
Kayla Nielsen – Nov 16 vs Brisbane (Home)
Nadine Edney – Nov 17 vs Brisbane (Home)
Kayla Nielsen – Nov 17 vs Brisbane (Home)
Sharna Godfrey – Jan 11 vs Brisbane (Away)

Special Teams

When a team’s powerplay percentage and penalty killing percentage adds up to over 100%, head coaches are happy knowing they should have an edge in special teams.

Team	PPG	PPO	PP%	PPGA	TSH	PK%	Total %	SHGF	SHGA	Real +/-
Adelaide	9	59	0.152542	11	66	0.833333	0.985876	4	0	2
Brisbane	8	55	0.145455	16	53	0.698113	0.843568	0	4	-12
Melbourne	14	66	0.212121	17	80	0.7875	0.999621	2	0	-1
Perth	16	58	0.275862	12	63	0.809524	1.085386	1	6	-1
Sydney	19	83	0.228916	10	59	0.830508	1.059424	4	1	12

A quick glance at the numbers shows the Perth Inferno as having the highest total of 108.5%. However, when shorthanded goals for and against are incorporated, Perth actually finished -1 in total goals on special teams due to allowing a league-worst 6 shorthanded goals.

Sydney, finishing second in special teams percentage with 105.9%, finished with a +12 goals scored ratio, buoyed in part by their 4 shorthanded goals for and only 1 shorthanded goal allowed.

Adelaide were the only other team to finish with a plus ratio on special teams, recording +2. Both Adelaide and Melbourne (-1 ratio) finished just below the 100% threshold with 98.6% and 99.996% respectively. And Brisbane, well, Brisbane struggled. But Brisbane can take solace in the fact that Adelaide went from last-place to second-place in a single season.

Save Percentage

Adelaide Rush enjoyed the best goaltending in the league this season. Their netminders posted a combined save percentage of .882. The average goaltending save percentage in the league was .873, so anything above that figure is impressive.

Melbourne Ice finished second in that category with .878. Third-place is Brisbane with .877. Brisbane’s struggles this season certainly were not statistically a result of poor goaltending. Sydney finished fourth with .876, and Perth came last with .861.

Shot Percentage

Using the same figures for save percentage, we can conclude that since the league average save percentage was .873, average shot percentage must be .127. Anything above that number is indicative of a team that either uses better shot selection, were more skilled at shooting the puck, were the recipients of a lot of luck, or a combination of all those things.

The league leaders in the category were, unsurprisingly, the team that bulged the twine more often than anyone else, the Sydney Sirens. Their shooting percentage of .143 bested the second place Perth Inferno’s .140.

Adelaide and Melbourne had below average numbers of .120 and .125 respectively. Brisbane managed a mere .099.

Shot-Share

Shot share is one of the most reliable indicators of long-term success that we have in the world of hockey. There are certainly limitations to assessing shots for and against, currently there is not a lot of information available in the AWIHL regarding shot location that can help us sort out the difference between a high-danger chance from the slot and a muffin from the blue line.

However, as it is all we have, we will take it, warts and all. The results are actually reflective of the standings themselves. Here are the results, in order of how teams finished in the standings.

Team	Shots For	Shots Against	Shots +/-	Total Shots	Shot-Share
Sydney	504	332	172	836	0.602871
Adelaide	487	280	207	767	0.634941
Melbourne	400	336	64	736	0.543478
Perth	434	485	-51	919	0.472252
Brisbane	180	572	-392	752	0.239362

Brisbane can be grateful for above average league goaltending. The figures show they had less than 24% of the shot-share. In contrast, Adelaide Rush allowed by far the fewest shots, and generated the second most, giving them 63.5% shot-share. Sydney came second, Melbourne third, and Perth fourth.

The importance of these numbers are reinforced by the standings themselves, almost perfectly mirroring shot-share rankings.

Conclusion

I’ll post some tables at the end of this article for each team that you might find interesting that includes goals, shots, save percentage etc. on a game by game basis, along with season averages. I hope you found this interesting. Statistics were pulled from esportsdesk, check them out for other information, such as individual scorers.

In the meantime, the finals weekend of February 1 and 2 is rapidly approaching.

Fans can buy tickets to the finals series from finals.awihllive.com. The tickets are very reasonably priced and it’s a great way to watch the greatest live sport on earth, escape the summer heat, and spend a Saturday and/or Sunday afternoon in a family-friendly environment.

If you can’t get to Docklands to watch the games, the AWIHL are broadcasting the games via their YouTube channel. Please be sure to subscribe. They are so close to hitting their goal of 1,000 subscribers, so if you haven’t already done so, you know what to do.

If you want to follow me on Twitter (CanStrayan) where I yell about random hockey stuff, click here. Also, give Hockey Embassy a like on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to keep up to date with our latest hockey articles. Make sure you follow the AWIHL twitter account here, follow them on Facebook here, and enjoy your week!

Adelaide Rush

Opponent	Home/Away	Shots For	Goals For	SH%	Shots Against	Goals Against	SH%	Shots +/-	SV%
Perth	Home	36	7	0.194444444	32	4	0.125	4	0.875
Perth	Home	41	6	0.146341463	26	5	0.192307692	15	0.807692
Perth	Away	34	7	0.205882353	32	5	0.15625	2	0.84375
Perth	Away	34	4	0.117647059	30	3	0.1	4	0.9
Brisbane	Home	59	7	0.118644068	8	1	0.125	51	0.875
Brisbane	Home	51	7	0.137254902	12	0	0	39	1
Brisbane	Away	40	2	0.05	7	0	0	33	1
Brisbane	Away	52	6	0.115384615	9	2	0.222222222	43	0.777778
Sydney	Home	43	3	0.069767442	39	3	0.076923077	4	0.923077
Sydney	Home	35	5	0.142857143	33	5	0.151515152	2	0.848485
Melbourne	Away	28	2	0.071428571	29	4	0.137931034	-1	0.862069
Melbourne	Away	34	2	0.058823529	23	3	0.130434783	11	0.869565
Average		40.58333333	4.833333333	0.119039633	23.33333333	2.916666667	0.118131997	17.25	0.881868
Total		487	58	N/A	280	35	N/A	207	N/A

Brisbane Goannas

Opponent	Home/Away	Shots For	Goals For	SH%	Shots Against	Goals Against	SH%	Shots +/-	SV%
Melbourne	Home	16	1	0.0625	39	3	0.076923077	-23	0.923077
Melbourne	Home	17	3	0.176470588	37	1	0.027027027	-20	0.972973
Sydney	Away	10	1	0.1	67	12	0.179104478	-57	0.820896
Sydney	Away	16	1	0.0625	56	10	0.178571429	-40	0.821429
Adelaide	Away	8	1	0.125	59	7	0.118644068	-51	0.881356
Adelaide	Away	12	0	0	51	7	0.137254902	-39	0.862745
Adelaide	Home	7	0	0	40	2	0.05	-33	0.95
Adelaide	Home	9	2	0.222222222	52	6	0.115384615	-43	0.884615
Sydney	Home	16	1	0.0625	44	5	0.113636364	-28	0.886364
Sydney	Home	13	4	0.307692308	42	7	0.166666667	-29	0.833333
Perth	Away	27	1	0.037037037	44	4	0.090909091	-17	0.909091
Perth	Away	29	1	0.034482759	41	9	0.219512195	-12	0.780488
Average		15	1.333333333	0.099200409	47.66666667	6.083333333	0.122802826	-32.6667	0.877197
Total		180	16	N/A	572	73	N/A	-392	N/A

Melbourne Ice

Opponent	Home/Away	Shots For	Goals For	SH%	Shots Against	Goals Against	SH%	Shots +/-	SV%
Brisbane	Away	39	3	0.076923077	16	1	0.0625	23	0.9375
Brisbane	Away	37	1	0.027027027	17	3	0.176470588	20	0.823529
Sydney	Home	22	2	0.090909091	18	3	0.166666667	4	0.833333
Sydney	Home	19	1	0.052631579	37	3	0.081081081	-18	0.918919
Perth	Home	40	6	0.15	37	4	0.108108108	3	0.891892
Perth	Home	35	7	0.2	29	4	0.137931034	6	0.862069
Sydney	Away	15	3	0.2	19	3	0.157894737	-4	0.842105
Sydney	Away	47	7	0.14893617	34	5	0.147058824	13	0.852941
Perth	Away	42	7	0.166666667	43	2	0.046511628	-1	0.953488
Perth	Away	52	6	0.115384615	24	6	0.25	28	0.75
Adelaide	Home	29	4	0.137931034	28	2	0.071428571	1	0.928571
Adelaide	Home	23	3	0.130434783	34	2	0.058823529	-11	0.941176
Average		33.33333333	4.166666667	0.124737004	28	3.166666667	0.122039564	5.333333	0.87796
Total		400	50	N/A	336	38	N/A	64	N/A

Perth Inferno

Opponent	Home/Away	Shots For	Goals For	SH%	Shots Against	Goals Against	SH%	Shots +/-	SV%
Adelaide	Away	32	4	0.125	36	7	0.194444444	-4	0.805556
Adelaide	Away	26	5	0.192307692	41	6	0.146341463	-15	0.853659
Sydney	Away	48	9	0.1875	54	10	0.185185185	-6	0.814815
Sydney	Away	48	3	0.0625	61	7	0.114754098	-13	0.885246
Adelaide	Home	32	5	0.15625	34	7	0.205882353	-2	0.794118
Adelaide	Home	30	3	0.1	34	4	0.117647059	-4	0.882353
Melbourne	Away	37	4	0.108108108	40	6	0.15	-3	0.85
Melbourne	Away	29	4	0.137931034	35	7	0.2	-6	0.8
Melbourne	Home	43	2	0.046511628	42	7	0.166666667	1	0.833333
Melbourne	Home	24	6	0.25	52	6	0.115384615	-28	0.884615
Brisbane	Home	44	4	0.090909091	27	1	0.037037037	17	0.962963
Brisbane	Home	41	9	0.219512195	29	1	0.034482759	12	0.965517
Average		36.16666667	4.833333333	0.139710812	40.41666667	5.75	0.138985473	-4.25	0.861015
Total		434	58	N/A	485	69	N/A	-51	N/A

Sydney Sirens

Opponent	Home/Away	Shots For	Goals For	SH%	Shots Against	Goals Against	SH%	Shots +/-	SV%
Perth	Home	54	10	0.185185185	48	9	0.1875	6	0.8125
Perth	Home	61	7	0.114754098	48	3	0.0625	13	0.9375
Brisbane	Home	67	12	0.179104478	10	1	0.1	57	0.9
Brisbane	Home	56	10	0.178571429	16	1	0.0625	40	0.9375
Melbourne	Away	18	3	0.166666667	22	2	0.090909091	-4	0.909091
Melbourne	Away	37	3	0.081081081	19	1	0.052631579	18	0.947368
Adelaide	Away	39	3	0.076923077	43	3	0.069767442	-4	0.930233
Adelaide	Away	33	5	0.151515152	35	5	0.142857143	-2	0.857143
Melbourne	Home	19	3	0.157894737	15	3	0.2	4	0.8
Melbourne	Home	34	5	0.147058824	47	7	0.14893617	-13	0.851064
Brisbane	Away	44	5	0.113636364	16	1	0.0625	28	0.9375
Brisbane	Away	42	7	0.166666667	13	4	0.307692308	29	0.692308
Average		42	6.083333333	0.143254813	27.66666667	3.333333333	0.123982811	14.33333	0.876017
Total		504	73	N/A	332	40	N/A	172	N/A