THE BOOK--Playing The Percentages In Baseball

And someone should invent a pitcher’s jersey with the design of baseballs on them!

”..that should have been thought of the second a goalie was invented.”

You’re kidding right?

One, it was not even close to obvious to me what the advantage of this thing is.  Maybe that is because I don’t play or watch hockey though.  I’ll assume that it is an advantage though.

Most importantly, isn’t it also pretty obvious that these will not be allowed in any competitive league?  I mean, can I “invent” catchers equipment that makes loud noises so as to distract the batter.  Can I “invent” a jersey for the pitcher that looks like a baseball in order to distract the batter?

Is that part of the game of hockey?  The second some goalie wears one of these, the other coach is going to complain to the refs and the refs are going to make them change right away or there will eventually be a rule against them if there already isn’t one.

This is ridiculous.

Reminds me of a study I saw where goalies with target-like circular logos on their chests had better save percentages than those with other sorts of logos, like diagonal words.  The theory was that the logos created a subconscious target for the shooter.  I don’t remember the details, though.

MGL, in hockey, they don’t have all the pansy rules you see in baseball.  Goalie masks are adorned with all kinds of things, and their pads also have stripes of all kinds (in an effort to fool the shooters visually).  The referee isn’t going to do anything.  Goalie equipment is checked before the game is played, not in the middle of it.

I predict that if some NHL goalie tried those pads, the “pansy” rules would follow very quickly.

BTW, how about painting your pads so they look like the other team’s socks?  Now THAT would be interesting.

"I predict that if some NHL goalie tried those pads, the “pansy” rules would follow very quickly.”

I would think that would be the case even though I don’t know anything about hockey.  That is what I basically was trying to say.

good idea to me...can’t hurt to try them I think, what’s the harm?  Apparently the high school league had no complaints about it (see quote below).  It would really be interesting to see what happens in the NHL.  I think what would happen is that they’d allow it in the first game.  If the other team was shutout and/or complained, then they’d try to put in a rule for the integrity of the game.  Afterall, doesn’t the NHL want higher scoring games rather than lower scoring games?

from the Boston Globe:

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John Gardner, the longtime hockey coach at Avon Old Farms School in Connecticut and president of the New England Prep School Ice Hockey Association, said the association has received no complaints about the pads. The association follows National Collegiate Athletic Association rules, he said, and regulations regarding goalie pads are basically confined to the size of the equipment and not the design.

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I always wondered why on earth Marc-Andre Fleury used to wear the neon yellow pads… highlighting to the opposition precisely where NOT to shoot.  How stupid.  He switched to white this or last year.  This kid has a good idea.

Judging from the photo the visual effect of that pattern compared to just having any old white or white’ish colored pads seems very minimal.

There might be some kind of mental effect however. Mostly for the goalkeeper himself I would think, i.e. some kind of placebo effect. (If the goalie thinks that they make it more difficult to score it would help his confidence etc.) But then again, who knows what goes on in a goalies mind anyway, as anyone who has been around hockey knows thet’re all loons.

And for what it is worth, I think the “subconsious target” idea is more worthwile than trying to “hide” your pads.

The goalie could be stark naked, and Guy Lafleur would still drill it over his right hand shoulder and hit the top corner.

It’s an interesting idea but I think it’s not as helpful as the keeper thinks, at least as regards fooling shooters.  That net pattern doesn’t even blend in too well with the actual net.  But as you get get closer to the prime shooting areas (circles in, middle of the ice), the shooter looks more “down” on the net, and thus the actual net is not the background for the shooter, but the ice surface - white inside of the net are, and blue in the crease.  He shows up very nicely against that background.  To that end, plain white or pale blue pads, or a jarring pattern, would be more visually distracting.

I’m not saying it’s nothing, just that it’s not as much.  If the guy’s JERSEY was net-patterned as well that would probably be a lot tougher, because he would present a more uniform appearance, and a shooter may stop and think instead of just trusting his instincts and muscle memory.

But just the pads?  As strange as it seems, fooling the shooter into aiming for your pads instead of the gaps isn’t as good a strategy for goal prevenion as you’d think, because most goals aren’t scored “clean” by a shooter with time picking his spot and firing, especially as the quality of play goes up.  (And even then, with that time he can tell what’s net and what’s goaltender.) Most goals happen one of three ways:

1. screen the keeper - if he can’t see it your chances go way up, and even if he does see it, the puck could hit something and skim through before he can re-react;
2. move the keeper - quick passes and dekes create the holes in a keeper’s stance that the shooter will then try to hit;
3. crash the net - quick rebounds before the goalie can reset or recover.

In many of those cases, the shooter isn’t even really picking a spot beyond “low” or “high,” he’s just trying to put the shot on net.  In close on those bang-bang plays, the shooter often has no time to pick a spot anyway, so it’s almost irrelevant what the pads look like - it’s all about reflexes.  And in the second scenario the keeper’s ability to hold his form while moving, and then reacting when the shot comes, is more important.

Actually, neon pads may not be so bad.  Ideally you want to look at the point at which you’re aiming for… something that draws the eye’s attention, like neon yellow, may work to help with that.

Cool idea with the pads, I can absolutely see it stopping an extra shot out of every 300 or 400 or so.

This kid is a genius! if it works or not, it’s very cool.  I want a set.

@MGL

You know what is ridiculous?

A guy who doesn’t “Play or watch hockey” calling a kid’s hockey invention “ridiculous”.

Dope.