Canada West Primary Points

I have used past articles based on Canada West statistical analysis to examine goal scoring with respect to scoring the first goal of the game and how important it is to play with the lead at the university level. I've posted information on goal percentage and expected wins when it comes to predicting the standings based on how a team is playing. I've posted trends on how teams finished. The one thing that I haven't done is talked about individual performances by players because I truly believe that hockey is a team game. Yes, players can have a larger affect on the outcomes than other players, but the game requires offence, defence, and goaltending.

Primary points - goals plus primary assists - include two of the main skills that teams need from players in order to win. Goals are pretty self-evident as no team has ever won a game tied 0-0, and not scoring enough goals on a per-game basis usually results in losses in games. You have to score goals to win, so goal-scoring talent is something all coaches want in players.

Primary assists are more of a contentious issue since some will argue that all assists are important when it comes to winning. Let me state a very obvious point: assists do not exist without goals, so you need goals to be scored to record assists of any kind. Primary assists, though, are seen as a "repeatable skill" in that good playmaking players will see opportunities to set up teammates for goals more than, say, a player who simply dishes a puck off to the winger on the half-boards.

I'm not here to debate the significance of secondary assists, though. Primary assists are seen as part of the primary points category because playmaking skills should persist from year to year for players if they are setting up goals directly. There could be an element of luck to this, but the statistic is seen as a player recognizing an opportunity more than it is getting a lucky rebound to bounce to an open teammate. Good players see shooting lanes to make those types of plays happen.

Broad Street Hockey had a solid write-up and data on this where they stated, "Someone who sets up a lot of goals this year probably has vision and puck control skills that make him likely to do so again next year". I tend to agree with this assessment, so primary points - goals plus primary assists - give us a better idea of who is doing all the scoring in Canada West more accurately.

2021-22 Scoring

It needs to be said that we're going to see veteran players lead the way on this list simply due to the fact that coaches have a tendency to play veterans more than rookies. I can't help that portion of the scoring, but I will show the rookie list as well. Each of these tables shows the Canada West scoring list from last season on the left and the Canada West primary points list on the right. I'll breakdown some of the information after the tables.

Top Scorers

Name	Team	Pts	Name	Team	PrPts
C. Bassi	UBC	22	C. Bassi	UBC	19
R. MacKinnon	UBC	21	L. Carpenter-Boesch	REG	18
M. Willan	ALB	21	C. Kollman	MRU	17
L. Carpenter-Boesch	REG	19	R. MacKinnon	UBC	17
I. Perrott	UBC	19	M. Willan	ALB	16
C. Kollman	MRU	19	M. Kordic	UBC	16
T. Ko	MRU	18	E. Lang	CAL	15
M. Kordic	UBC	18	I. Perrott	UBC	13
N. Kieser	ALB	16	T. Ko	ALB	13
H. Edwards	MAN	16	N. Kieser	ALB	13
E. Lang	CGY	16	H. Reuther	CGY	13
K. Robinson	UBC	16	H. Edwards	MAN	13

As you can see by these totals, these women are driving the offence for their teams. Most of the top scorers are also the top primary point producers, but I should note that all of Chanreet Bassi, Lilla Carpenter-Boesch, Courtney Kollman, Elizabeth Lang, and Mackenzie Kordic equalled or moved up the scoring leaderboard when looking at the primary point totals. These five certainly drove the play for each of their respective teams this season, and that was very noticeable when they were on the ice.

Rookie Scorers

Name	Team	Pts	Name	Team	PrPts
N. Kieser	ALB	16	N. Kieser	ALB	13
A. Johma	MRU	14	A. Johma	MRU	11
A. Keller	MAN	11	K. Lesuk	MAN	9
K. Lesuk	MAN	11	A. Keller	MAN	8
S. Gaskell	UBC	11	K. Borbandy	MRU	8
J. Bird	MAN	10	G. Elliott	UBC	7
K. Borbandy	MRU	9	J. Bird	MAN	6
G. Elliott	UBC	9	S. Benko	MRU	6
S. Benko	MRU	7	L. Focht	REG	5

It would seem the kids are alright based on these scoring totals. All of the rookies shown above had significant impacts on their teams' successes this year, and it would appear that girls who are recruited for their scoring ability are still able to do that at the university level. I'm not saying coaches should play the kids more, but the bias that veteran players may be more reliable scorers seems very wrong when one considers how many primary points each of the players above scored with respect to their overall points. Hint: scorers score!

Defender Scorers

Name	Team	Pts	Name	Team	PrPts
R. MacKinnon	UBC	21	R. MacKinnon	UBC	17
H. Koroll	UBC	16	H. Koroll	UBC	9
M. Butz	MRU	12	M. Butz	MRU	9
S. Gaskell	UBC	11	E. Bergesen	MRU	7
E. Bergesen	MRU	10	E. Hill	CGY	6
L. Warkentin	MAN	8	A. Chambers	MAC	6
T. Anker	ALB	8	K. Miswaggon	UBC	6
E. Hill	CGY	7	L. Warkentin	MAN	5
A. Chambers	MAC	7	T. Anker	ALB	5
K. Miswaggon	UBC	7	K. Machry	ALB	5
I. Pozzi	SAS	7	M. Wilson	ALB	5

What these stats show, more than anything, is that these are the defenders who transition to offence the best in the conference. That's not to say they're not effective in generating offence once in a structured system in the offensive zone, but defenders are often throwing the stretch pass to a forward more than forwards do. UBC has three defenders in the top-seven primary-point defenders, so it's pretty clear, whether making passes up to forwards or having defenders jump into the play, that UBC was transitioning to offence very well. MRU was also solid when it came to the quick transition as well. I think we can all agree, having watched both teams play in 2021-22, that their transition games and breakouts were the best in the conference through the regular season. These stats would back up that assessment.

So what does this all mean? Well, if a player can do it for one season, there's a likelihood that they'll continue to drive plays in the future. I'll have to keep an eye on the stats this season, but I'll track primary points once again to see if they correlate to some of the findings here. If you notice, there are teams that weren't mentioned or got a lot of mention above.

Here are the top-three primary point producers for each team!

Madison Willan - 16
Natalie Kieser - 13
Payton Laumbach - 12

Elizabeth Lang - 15
Holly Reuther - 13
Alli Borrow - 12

Jayme Doyle - 7
Aryn Chambers - 6
Chantal Ricker - 6

Halle Edwards - 13
Kate Gregoire - 10
Kylie Lesuk - 9

Courtney Kollman - 17
Tianna Ko - 13
Tatum Amy - 12

Lilla Carpenter-Boesch - 18
Jordan Kulbida - 11
Ireland Sorestad - 6

Sophie Lalor - 10
Bailee Bourassa - 10
Kennedy Brown - 8

Brooklyn Anderson - 8
Neisha Germann - 7
Olivia Leier - 6

Chanreet Bassi - 19
Rylind MacKinnon - 17
Mackenzie Kordic - 16

As always, if you're reading this and you want information on other players, I do have the breakdown from the entire season. If you're attending games next season, though, you now know who to watch for when it comes to generating offence. I'll track the stats again next season, but you now know who drove the offence for each team in 2021-22!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!