Goalie / Team Scoring - Explanations and Examples

First of all, if you don't want to read all this because you just want to set up your scoring for goalies and/or teams so they match the nhl's official scoring - simply put 2 for WIN, 0 for LOSS, and 1 for OTL (Overtime Loss). You're done! When you read officially published nhl standings everything will match up, and your poolies will be happy. If you want to know why, and/or award bonus points for overtime, shutouts, etc - read on.

The most important thing to realize about the officepools.com scoring system is the rule - and the exception! The rule is that all points awarded over and above the basic point categories are bonus points. For example if a player scores a goal, he gets credit for a goal - pure and simple. But if the goal is - in addition - a powerplay, shorthanded, game winning, or overtime goal - then bonus credits are awarded for any/all of those additional categories. Some examples - let's say your scoring system is as follows - you award 1 for a goal, 2 bonus for a powerplay goal, 3 bonus for a shorthanded goal, 4 bonus for a game winning goal, and 5 bonus for an overtime goal. So, your scoring is - for Skaters =>

Not that you would use such a scoring system, but it's good for an example. So a player scores a goal - what does he get? 1 point, plain and simple. What if it's also a powerplay goal? 1+2=3. What if it's a game winning powerplay goal? 1+2+4=7. You know what's coming - what if it's a game winning powerplay goal scored in overtime? 1+2+4+5=12.

The same principles apply to goalie and team points - the basic win and loss categories can have bonuses like shutout and overtime (note that there is no such thing as a "tie" for goalies or teams as per the 2005/06 nhl collective bargaining agreement - goalie points are now identical to team points, which have no ties). So if your scoring system was set up to match the nhl's official scoring system regarding win/loss/overtime loss (which I highly recommend) then for Goalies or Teams you have =>

So if the team or goalie gets a win it's 2 points. For an overtime win, 2+1=3 points. If the team or goalie gets a loss, that's 0 points. For an overtime loss - let's leave that for a moment! For a win that is also a shutout, that's 2+3=5 points. For an overtime shutout win, that's 2+1+3=6 points! Simple and consistent right? Now let's get to an overtime loss, it's 0 + 1 = 1 point. But wait - I just pulled a nasty trick - it's not really 0+1=1 point, it's just 1 point. What's the difference? For overtime losses the original loss is NOT awarded - only the OTL (Over Time Loss) is awarded. Now what's the difference? None for this scoring system example, but if your scoring system were -1 (negatives are allowed) for a loss instead of 0, and you expected an overtime loss to be -1 for the loss plus 1 for the overtime bonus for a total of 0, you'd be wrong - since the original loss is not awarded, it would just be 1 for the overtime loss. So, here is where the exception to the rule comes in for goalies and teams => In the event of an overtime loss, the goalie/ team will never be awarded both a loss and an overtime loss - only the OTL (Over Time Loss) is awarded! Why????? Because the nhl official scoring categories work that way, and if officepools displays something different then you will never be able to compare the officepools numbers to the nhl's officially published numbers - and neither will I - so I won't be able to reconcile them. Furthermore, if people in your pool were to see the numbers didn't match, they're going to email you, they're going to email me, they're going to be sure they're getting ripped off and be very angry! So for team/goalie OTL's officepools.com does as the nhl does, just set your scoring system accordingly - the "Scoring" tab in your pool's guest login will contain a link to this page so all your poolies will understand!.