Skating Speed (EASHL)

Hi @EA_Aljo,

Thanks for looking into it. There's very different competing explanations out there.

When you say that height/weight are "other factors", do you mean they impact speed even after controlling for attributes?

To make this more clear, suppose I have two players that are both 90/90 speed/acc.

Player A is small (e.g. 5'10 160lbs).

Player B is large (e.g. 6'1 210lbs).

Suppose all else is equal: Are you saying that Player B would have better acceleration / higher top end speed? 

@kdsmaclean 

Smaller players are faster than larger players. They're easier to knock off the puck though.

Edit. Apologies. I missed where you said they were both 90/90. I'll check on that. In that case, I assume they're both the same. You can see where speed changes when adjusting a player's size though.

Stamina, body positioning, how straight you skate all matter.

20% difference in stamina can make a difference (probably).

If one guy has a better first step they'll have better positioning, any kind is huge for puck battles and races.

1 bad step left or right is also huge, some people don't notice it.

Stride style is probably the last thing that I would think is making a difference. It can make you look like you're going faster especially for the first few strides, and stick handling and pick ups can be different, but it shouldn't actually affect speed.

>> Also reach is probably really important. Not exactly sure how much it affects pick ups, you can probably test it yourself.

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@kdsmaclean wrote:

I understand. But these were two players who were both already going in a straight line. Of course agility/ping matters but not once you're in the straight line sprint (I'd think)

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Yes, but if one player is able to accelerate faster, that player will be ahead of the other player once both are going full speed.

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@kdsmaclean wrote:
@EA_AljoRight but that's where this discussion is getting confusing. For the purposes of this discussion, I'm always referring to all else being equal. Otherwise every factor can be said to impact speed because everything is a tradeoff.

This is the clip I was referring to. Take notice of green and the player who starts out maybe one stride length ahead. At a certain point, THAT player starts sprinting and by the time the puck is in the D zone, that player is maybe 4 stride lengths ahead.

It looks to me like both are in sprint animation and both are going in essentially straight lines.

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxFJcPoX7hpdAFL6uP_i_qqDIX1K8tw90F?feature=shared

Now maybe there's an easy explanation and that's fine. I'm still curious whether height/weight and skating style matter, all else being equal.

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You say, "all else equal", but ARE all things equal? Do you know what the builds of the two players in question were? Do you know what their stamina levels were at when they started skating back to your team's zone?

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@kdsmaclean wrote:
@EA_Aljo Right but that's where this discussion is getting confusing. For the purposes of this discussion, I'm always referring to all else being equal. Otherwise every factor can be said to impact speed because everything is a tradeoff.

This is the clip I was referring to. Take notice of green and the player who starts out maybe one stride length ahead. At a certain point, THAT player starts sprinting and by the time the puck is in the D zone, that player is maybe 4 stride lengths ahead.

It looks to me like both are in sprint animation and both are going in essentially straight lines.

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxFJcPoX7hpdAFL6uP_i_qqDIX1K8tw90F?feature=shared

Now maybe there's an easy explanation and that's fine. I'm still curious whether height/weight and skating style matter, all else being equal.

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The trailing player is skating in a straight line. The carrier makes a few turns. They also have a slight penalty for carrying the puck. You don't hustle when you're turning so that will kick in.

@PlayoffError 

The green player starts hustling right away and is skating in a straight line. The player in white slightly turns, then enters hustle. As you mentioned, we need to know the builds as well and energy needs to be considered.