Selected Goal – Scoring Characteristics in the National Hockey League

The variables impacting the efficiency of the offensive phase of the game in ice hockey may be determining factor for both the training process and game strategies. The research aimed to acquire and expand the knowledge about selected goal-scoring characteristics in the National Hockey League. A total of 511 even-strength goals were recorded in 129 randomly selected games in a regular-season 2020/2021 by indirect observation. Goals were differentiated by selected variable dimensions: location of the offensive team’s puck possession gain before scoring a goal, game situation preceding a goal, and the number of passes of the offensive team preceding a goal. Data were analyzed by performing a one–way ANOVA. Post hoc multiple comparisons were performed using the Tukey HSD test. The significance level of p ≤ 0.05 was used. Significant differences were found within all variable dimensions (p= 0.00001). In terms of the puck possession gain location, zone 1 (along the boards in the offensive zone) was the zone with the significantly highest mean score (p= 0.00305). Offensive zone play was significantly the game situation preceding most of the goals (p= 0.00000). The interval of the passes that preceded most of the recorded goals was the interval of 1 – 2 passes (p= 0.00000). Acquired results point out the dominance of particular variables and may help coaches to determine the content of the training process and game strategies. Based on the assumption of the realization of similar research in different environments in terms of the quality and age category, if the analogy would be found between the results of the present study and the results of potential studies, we can state the trends applicable to youth training.