In our Stat Pack feature, College Hockey Inc. highlights five obscure but telling statistics from the world of college hockey. You can find many more, in our filtered stats database.
1. Teams always want to start fast. Here are the 10 teams that score the first goal most often in their games:
Highest Pct. of Games Scoring the First Goal
70.6% - Mercyhurst
67.7% - Ferris State
66.7% - Alaska, UMass Lowell
65.6% - Air Force, Bowling Green, Quinnipiac
64.3% - Wisconsin
63.3% - Rensselaer, Union
2. Since the holiday break, the following goaltenders have posted the best save percentages:
Best Save Percentage, Since Dec. 25
.949 - Robby Nichols, Connecticut
.948 - Jimmy Sarjeant, Mercyhurst
.946 - Jake Hildebrand, Michigan State
.945 - Thatcher Demko, Boston College
.942 - Steve Michalek, Harvard (MIN)
.940 - Clay Witt, Northeastern
.939 - Adam Wilcox, Minnesota (TB)
.937 - Martin Ouellette, Maine (CBJ)
.937 - Joel Rumpel, Wisconsin
.936 - Terry Shafer, Robert Morris
3. Union's Shayne Gostisbehere (Margate, Fla./South Kent-Prep/PHI) leads all defensemen in shots on goal with 29% more than any other blueliner:
Most Shots on Goal, Defensemen
120 - Shayne Gostisbehere, Union (PHI)
93 - Eric Knodel, New Hampshire (TOR)
91 - Nolan Descoteaux, RIT
88 - Nick Jones, Mercyhurst
87 - Kenney Morrison, Western Michigan
86 - Ben Hutton, Maine (VAN)
4. Five teams have gotten at least 100 points from their freshman class:
Most Points, Freshmen (No. of Freshmen)
115 - Boston College (10)
112 - Sacred Heart (13)
111 - Northeastern (10)
104 - St. Lawrence (10)
103 - Minnesota (8)
Most Goals, Freshmen (No. of Freshmen)
43 - Minnesota (8)
41 - Boston College (10)
37 - St. Lawrence (10)
35 - Sacred Heart (13)
34 - Northeastern (10)
5. Shots on goal margin is often considered a useful predictor of team success. It's curious, then, that Quinnipiac is the only top-10 team that ranks among the top 10 in shot differential since the Christmas break:
Best Shots on Goal Margin Per Game, Since Christmas
+13.79 - Minnesota State
+10.46 - Notre Dame
+10.15 - Quinnipiac
+9.29 - Vermont
+9.00 - Nebraska Omaha
+8.57 - Michigan Tech
+8.50 - Air Force
+8.38 - Providence
+7.46 - Penn State
+7.18 - Massachusetts