STOCKHOLM – Few statistical categories are monitored as eagerly and jealously by hockey players as their ice time. Typically, the more you get, the more you can do. But it’s not always that straightforward.
It’s nice to view ice time as a measure of the coach’s confidence in you, but some players are simply better-suited to playing in certain situations than others. For instance, if you’re a power play specialist or considered a bit of a defensive liability, and your team spends the entire first period in the penalty box, you may barely get out there.
Just look at the NHL second-round matchup between the Washington Capitals and New York Rangers, where Russian superstar Alexander Ovechkin, whose ice time dipped to a career-low 13:36 in Game Two at the discretion of Caps coach Dale Hunter.
So what about the 2012 IIHF Ice Hockey World Championship? Which statistics regarding ice time really jump out so far?
In the big picture, there’s a significant philosophical divide between Europe and North America in terms of average shift lengths. It boils down to “Europe: shorter, North America: longer.”
As of games played through May 8, only one Canadian player has an average shift length lower than 40 seconds: Ryan O’Reilly (0:38). Just three Americans fall into that category: Patrick Dwyer (0:37), Kyle Palmieri (0:38), and Justin Abdelkader (0:38).
That contrasts sharply with Kazakhstan, which has 20 skaters averaging under 0:40. Latvia has 19, Belarus and Germany have 17, and Switzerland has 16.
Lest you conclude that it’s simply a case of bigger, stronger, better-conditioned NHL players being able to handle longer shifts, that notion falls apart when you look at the medal-contending European countries. Generally, they aim to strike a happy medium, Russia and Sweden have nine players apiece with average shifts under 0:40, while the Czechs and Finns have seven. Among the players on these teams who play more than 0:40, there is noreal divide between NHLers and European-based skaters.
Interestingly, the Italians – one of the newly promoted teams for 2012 along with Kazakhstan – have only 11 players averaging under 0:40 per shift. That might well be a reflection of the fact they’re coached by a Canadian (Rick Cornacchia) and have plenty of Italo-Canadians on the roster.
What about individual players? A good rule of thumb is, if you really want to play a lot at this tournament, be a Scandinavian defenceman. And you don’t have to be a big name like Nicklas Lidström or Kimmo Timonen.
Norwegian workhorse Jonas Holøs, a former Colorado Avalanche who now toils with Växjö Lakers of the Swedish Elitserien, has averaged more total ice time per game than any other player thus far at 28:32. His blueline buddy, captain Ole-Kristian Tollefsen, is also getting a ton at 25:25.
On Denmark, it’s D-man Philip Larsen of the Dallas Stars who is setting the standard with 25:51, while Jesper B. Jensen is at 23:59.
Other defencemen who have gotten significant playing time at these Worlds to date include the USA’s Jack Johnson (25:39), Belarus’s Dmitri Korobov (24:09), and Switzerland’s Mark Streit (22:01).
How does age factor into the picture? The tournament’s oldest player, 40-year-old Petr Nedved of the Czech Republic, is averaging 14:57 per game so far. Canada’s Ryan Murray, a WHL defenceman with the Everett Silvertips, is the youngest 2012 participant at age 18, and he’s at 9:36.
One of the perennial kings of World Championship monster minute-munching is unlikely to put in an appearance this year. That’s because Russia's Ilya Kovalchuk and his New Jersey Devils have defeated the Philadelphia Flyers and advanced to the NHL’s Eastern Conference final.
Kovalchuk played at eight out of the last nine World Championships. The explosive goal-scoring winger, whose average of 24:26 per game this year led all NHL forwards, logged a whopping 30:33 when Russia defeated Canada 2-1 in the 2009 gold medal game in Switzerland.
LUCAS AYKROYD |
