The Hockey 23/24

Merry Christmas Canucks fans. 

The Canucks are scoring goals.  Don't know why they couldn't do that in the past.  Better shooting talent?

Ho ho ho!

I'm a rabid fan when they're winning. Other years pretend hockey doesn't exist.

GP represents games played. NHL teams play 82 games during the regular season – 41 at home and 41 on the road.

W is the number of wins for a given team – regulation, overtime and shootout. “A win is a win,” or so the expression goes, but that's not entirely true. More on that in a second. Teams are awarded two (2) points for wins.

L as you might imagine, is the number of losses for a team. But only regulation losses, not overtime or shootout losses. Teams are awarded no points for losses.

OT (sometimes specified as OTL) is the number of overtime or shootout losses for a team. Teams are awarded one (1) point for overtime or shootout losses. This “loser point” is not universally popular.

PTS are how teams are ranked in the standings table and how playoff seeding is determined. Again, teams are awarded two (2) points for each win – regulation and overtime/shootout – while franchises are awarded one (1) point for overtime and shootout losses.

ROW is a team's total number of regulation and overtime wins. Why is ROW important? For all intents and purposes, it's the league's first tie-breaker. Technically, fewer number of games played is the first tie-breaker, but since teams play uniform 82-game schedules, ROW serves as the de facto tie-breaker for playoff matters.

GF, or Goals For, represent how many goals a team has scored on the season. Note: goals scored during shootouts do not count towards a team's total. The winning team is given one extra goal in the game score and one extra goal in the season total.

GA is the opposite of GF – how many goals a team has surrendered on the season – or Goals Against. Note: goals allowed during shootouts do not count towards a team's total. The losing team is charged with one extra goal in the game score and one extra goal in the season total.

DIFF represents the goals differential for a team. Basically, GF – GA = DIFF.

HOME is a team's home record, W–L–OTL.

AWAY is a team's road record, W–L–OTL.

S/O represents a team's record in games decided by a shootout.

L10 is a team's record over their last 10 games, W–L–OTL.

STRK is the team's current streak of consecutive wins or losses.

SOW is the number of shootout wins a team has on the season. You'll see this paired with SOL in some standings in place of the S/O record.

SOL is the number of shootout losses a team has. Again, you'll see this paired with SOW in some standings instead of the S/O record.

PCT can mean a team's percentage of total points earned from points available, or more infrequently, a team's winning percentage.

DIV represents a team's record against its own division, W–L–OTL.

GFA indicates a team's average goals scored per game.

GAA are a team's goals allowed per game.