The Southeastern Collegiate Hockey Conference tournament is, arguably, the most fun hockey event of the year in Nashville. On the surface, the games are fast, hard-hitting, and intense. Look further, and you’ll see players from each school that drive their team performances and inspire their teammates.

Before I break down the player performances, I want to recognize each of this year’s stats volunteers, without whom the following information would not exist. This year, we were extremely fortunate to have our largest statistics crew yet. These volunteers came from all ages, backgrounds, and even states. They are united by their focus and passion for the game.

Right, let’s get into it!

Shooting

Shooting: the bread and butter. You can’t win many hockey games without shooting the puck. These five players attempted more shots than anyone over the weekend tournament:

Not all shots are created equal, though. We were able to track quality shot attempts, or those that come from areas of the ice closest to the goal, to get a better sense for which players are really dangerous goal scorers. Number one seeded Arkansas featured heavily in the top five:

Zone transitions

In my opinion, what separates great hockey players from the rest of the pack is their ability to move the puck up the ice. Effective possession of the puck from the defensive zone into the offensive zone allows the team to be better positioned and more dangerous offensively.

In terms of moving the puck out of the defensive zone while maintaining possession, here are the weekend’s top performers (among those with 15+ attempts):

Ole Miss and Georgia Tech were well represented in this category, which was true for entering the attacking zone as well:

Faceoffs

The right faceoff can be the difference in winning and losing a hockey game. Coaches want someone they can trust in the circle, especially in a high-stakes tournament. Among those with at least 25 faceoff attempts, these players were the most reliable of the weekend:

Scoring

Advanced stats like shot quality and zone transitions are fun and certainly valuable, but the scoreboard likes points. Incredibly, the University of Arkansas took a 1-2-3 finish in total points scored. Beyond that, a six-way(!) tie for fourth:

Goaltending

Finally, we arrive at arguably the most important element of any hockey game. Anyone who attended this tournament will agree with me when I say that we were treated to some truly staggering goaltending performances. Most notably were Hayden Harris’ (Auburn) 51-save night against Ole Miss, and Ryan Troy’s (Ole Miss) championship-winning performance on Sunday afternoon.

Here are the top goaltenders from the tournament in terms of save percentage (among those who faced 50+ shots):

Auburn’s number 2 deserves another nod here, as he faced 140 shots and almost 50 quality scoring chances in just three games and still produced and impressive save percentage.

Further reading

All of the weekend’s stats are publicly available in a searchable format here. You can always reach out to me (@WadeM117) or fellow stats team leader George Matarangas (@GeorgeM1019) on Twitter or leave a comment below.

We’ll see you next year!