Power plays occur in hockey when a player takes a penalty and his team is forced to play with four skaters instead of five for the duration of the penalty. If two players on one team have taken a penalty, the opponent will have a two-man advantage for the duration of the infractions. Power play percentage is calculated on using the number of power plays your team receives and the number of times it scores with the man advantage.
Powerplay Percentage
Step 1
Use box scores from your team's games and add up the number of power plays. Again using the box scores, add up the number of times your team scored on the power play. Now, divide the number of conversions into the number of opportunities. Unless your team has scored on every power play it's ever received, which is extremely unlikely, you'll be left with a decimal figure such as 0.25.
Step 2
Take the decimal figure and multiply by 100 to determine your team's power play percentage. For example, the Vancouver Canucks have the highest-rated power play percentage in the 2010-2011 NHL season. They convert 24.8 percent of the time. This means that for every 100 power plays they receive, they score on 24.8 of them.
Step 3
If you wish to take it a step further, you can determine your team's power play percentage during a particular set of games such as those at home and those on the road. The process is the same, add up the number of home or away power plays and divide the number of converted power plays into it. Multiply by 100 to figure out your team's success rate while at home and on the road.
Tips and Warnings
- Any percentage above 20 is a highly successful conversion rate. Lower than 20 indicates that your team could likely use more practice with the man-advantage. Do not get concerned if your team sometimes struggles on the power play. It can be difficult to score and the opponent is equally concerned about its penalty kill success. An effective powerplay takes a lot of diligent practice and every player must be committed to the particular system the coach has implemented.
Things You'll Need
- Calculator
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