Cameron Pays Attention To Stats That Matter Most

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Cameron pays attention to stats that matter most

BEAUMONT - Watching video of Friday's Texas Wildcatters hockey game confirmed something Malcolm Cameron suspected while he paced behind the team's bench as the actual contest was being played at Ford Arena.

Cameron's club had given up three goals to the Gwinnett Gladiators in the second period and shut them out in the third period and overtime, yet there was a clear reason for the scoring discrepancy between the two periods.

"Turnovers," said Cameron, who tallies those and other statistics that don't appear on official game reports when watching video of his team's games. "I think in the second period we had three times as many turnovers in the first and third periods, which obviously was indicative of the score and why we let them back into the hockey game."

The results showed. Texas held a 2-1 lead after one period but allowed three goals in the second and trailed 4-2. The Wildcatters scored twice in the third period, and Mike Bayrack nailed the game-winning goal less than two minutes into overtime.

Cameron said he has little regard for statistics kept by the ECHL or any other league when trying to determine the impact a player has on his or another team. He instead charts his own statistics, which he tracks on a laptop computer while watching video of his team's games.

"Face offs, turnovers, hits," said Cameron, listing a few of the statistics he tallies that don't appear on official league reports. "Turnovers is a big one. Where they happen, in the offensive zone or in the defensive zone. Who's doing them? That sort of thing, so I can go back and show some video to players that are turning over the puck and we can figure out why."

Each of those statistics are a focus for Cameron in all games, including when the Wildcatters host the Augusta Lynx on Friday and Saturday at Ford Arena.

Fifth-year professional Brandin Cote, a center, is regarded as the most complete player on the Wildcatters. He has five goals and seven assists and a plus-7 in what's called a plus-minus rating, which measures the number of goals scored for his team against how many are allowed when a specific player is on the ice. Power play goals don't count in the plus-minus rating.

But not even Cote has much regard for those statistics.

"I think plus-minus can be a little overrated, because a lot of guys can have a lot of (goals and assists) and still be a minus player because they can score a lot of points on the power play," said Cote, whose plus-minus rating among the ECHL's 10 best.

"A lot of times you can't really tell when you're on the ice whether a goal is a specific player's fault."

Determining what leads to a goal is where turnovers enter the picture. Make enough of them, and the other team is bound to score.

"Usually it's not one mistake that happens on the ice at one time that leads to a goal," Cote said. "Usually it's a collective thing that maybe over two or three shifts that builds up to them scoring on the other side or us scoring a goal against them."

Turnovers are among many things that lead to the shots, goals and assists totals that appear on game reports.

"The stats that are important are the small things - the shots on net, the chips off the board, guys who make the hits - those are the stats that you don't know about but those are the ones our coach takes," said Bayrack, whose goal against Gwinnett was his first game-winning goal, a statistic kept by the league.

"(Cameron) wants to see who's winning the face offs. Those are the little things and those are the ones that count the most. We can have guys scoring 50 goals a year, and they could stay in this league for the rest of their life. The guys that are doing the little things and making the right moves, the guys you can depend on, those are the guys that are going to move up (to the American Hockey League)."

IT MEANS WHAT?

Brandin Cote leads the Texas Wildcatters in a statistical category that might not make much sense for those who are not familiar with hockey. Cote has a plus-minus rating of plus-7, the best on the team. If you don't know what that means, here's how Cote explained it:

"Basically, if you're on the ice for a five-on-five (or four-on-four) goal for our team, you get a plus," Cote said. "If you're on the ice for a five-on-five, or four-on-four, so even strength either way, it's a minus. If you're on with a short-handed goal for us, it's a plus. If it's their short-handed goal against you, it's a minus."

Players who commit penalties must sit out for at least two minutes and cannot be replaced during that time, leaving that player's team short-handed.

Mike Bayrack, who is at minus-3, said the statistic is important.

"It really reflects how good you are when it counts, because anybody can get points on the power play, when you're up one," he said. "But when you're on five-on-five, that's when it really counts."