The BC Hockey League has partnered with InStat Hockey to provide advanced statistics and video for its 18 teams, starting this fall.
InStat was used by BCHL teams on a trial period last season and the company made a presentation to the league’s board of governors in January.
“InStat is a great player-development tool that allows our teams to take a deep dive into analyzing performance by way of video and advanced statistics,” said BCHL executive director Steven Cocker. “The platform will give our coaches and players a large database for learning, with video clips and measurable benchmarks.”
Andrew Shaw, Chilliwack Chiefs assistant coach and resident stats guru, enjoyed last January’s trial-run of InStat and called it a valuable tool and a massive time saver.
“Within 24 hours we’ll be getting a report about each player’s time on the ice, shot attempts and stuff like that,” he said. “Before InStat, we were probably getting to each player every couple of weeks to go over individual shifts, and now they’ll have them the next day. This generation of kids, they don’t ignore the details, and this is extremely valuable.”
Shaw already had the Chiefs on the advanced stats wave, but InStat helps him take it a step further.
For instance, he was tracking shot attempts. InStat adds the location of those attempts.
“If a player is struggling, you can pull up his last five games and show him video of all his attempts coming from the boards,” Shaw explained. “You can say, ‘No wonder you’re not scoring goals. You’re not getting inside. You’re not getting second chances.’ So I found a ton of value in having access to video and being able to sort it and see it any way I want.”
InStat will help the Chiefs scout opponents and potential trade acquisitions.
“I can quickly call up five games from a player we’re looking at, and give the video to (GM/head coach) Brian (Maloney) and (associate GM/coach) Brad (Rihela),” Shaw said.
The service also provides a ‘spray charts’ for goaltenders.
“If we’re playing Surrey in the playoffs, maybe as the sample sizes grow larger we can identify weaknesses in an opposing netminder,” Shaw noted. “And our goalies can use the service to identify strengths and areas where they can improve.”
BCHL teams will also have access to InStat’s scouting platform, which includes a database of players from around the world.
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