The NHL season is in full array and fans are scouring the internet looking for the best online NHL betting lines, as well as any information that could help them secure a healthy wager. There are plenty of ways to breakdown professional hockey games, but one aspect that is often overlooked is the fighting that occurs within the game. Whenever a player is willing to put his body on the line, beyond what is normally asked of him in a hockey game, there is an assumption that the fight will have some impact on the outcome of the contest. If one player obliterates an opponent in a fight, there is a large consensus that the team will be able to use the somatic victory to raise its level of play, and ultimately win the game.
In fact, this consensus is so strong that it has even been featured as an in-game mechanic for many NHL video games. For example, engaging in a fight, and winning, will provide energy to the winning team, as well as give a boost to the player’s in-game statistics. But is the consensus true? Can online NHL betting fans begin to account for how well teams are at fighting? The answer might not be that easy.
The problem with trying to answer this question is that it’s hard to approach the subject scientifically. Of course, there has been research done regarding hockey fights, but the research hardly examines whether or not winning a fight has an effect on the outcome of the game. In the end, most of the research revolved around seeing the impact fighting had on goals scored, by either team. The research concluded that the results of fights did not have a statistically significant impact on the results of the game, and ultimately, the outcome of fights have a negligible effect on the outcome of the game. And yet, online NHL betting fans often make a big deal about teams securing players who are known as great fighters. Are their efforts in vain?
It may be difficult to get a straight answer, but hockeyfights.com has created a community dedicated to tackling this question. They’ve amounted thousands of fights, as well as created a rating system so fans can decide exactly who won the fight, giving fans who are scientifically inclined the opportunity to create a valid, coherent theory to the effect fighting has on hockey games.
And that’s exactly what georgetownsportsanalysis.wordpress.com, a student organization from Georgetown University dedicated to doing research within the sports industry, did. Back in 2013, their team looked at the data from all 342 hockey fights from the 2012-13 NHL season. They looked at the data to see if winning the fight had an impact on the team’s momentum, as well as the goal differential both before, and after the fight. What they concluded is that there is no tangible evidence to support the claim that winning fights affects the outcome of games. With that in mind, fans can let out a sigh of relief knowing that they don’t have to consider a team’s fighting strength. Now bettors can safely surf the best hockey betting sites, knowing that hockey fights account for nothing more than pure entertainment.
