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Player of the Week explained

By Del Scanlon & Michael Trzinski, WiPH Staff, 01/25/20, 5:00PM CST

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The nuts and bolts of our POTW

Each week Wisconsin Prep Hockey awards a “Player of the Week” during the boys and girls high school season. Coaches, fans, and staff members submit a player or players which they feel are deserving for consideration. There are some coaches that do not submit players for recognition, not because they feel their players are not worthy of consideration but because they want their players to buy into team play.

Player of the Week doesn’t mean the player scored a ton of goals and/or assists during the week or even find their names filling the box score. He or she many times can contribute to the team’s win or even their competitiveness in a loss by their play on the ice. Fighting for the puck in the corner, hustling back on defense to stop a breakaway, blocking shots, etc. are examples of things not found in a box score, but definitely can lead to how the team competes.

The problem is quantifying the things a player contributes on the defensive end or as our good friend Pete Susens says, 'does the little things right.'

We recently received a series of emails from a coach who thought that 'big stats' win the award, even if those stats are accomplished against lesser teams during blowouts. 

Our partners look at how the stat line was earned, and if we have enough players to compare, we usually give the POTW award to players that contribute in close games than players that tally 15 points during the week in games that the team won collectively 33-5.

Basically, it comes down to a couple of issues: (1) our site does not have the capability of filtering stats by the week, and (2) we don't get enough nominations. We can't do anything about the first one, but all of you out there in hockeyland can nominate more players.

Due to the fact that defensemen don't have a lot of quantifiable stats, it is really easy to look closer at forwards (goals, points) and goalies (saves, shutouts). 

Blueliners get the short end of the stick.

What it boils down to is why do you feel your player is worthy of the recognition? Give us more than the stats and what the fan sees while watching the game. Tell us why this player is important to the team, maybe they don’t realize the unseen contribution they are making.

We instituted the POTW award because we wanted to give recognition to those that go above and beyond, and we still feel that way. It's not a perfect system, but it is the best we have for now.

How about an offensive and defensive player of the week? Any traction for that?

We thank you for following this crazy little website that Bergler dreamed up nearly 20 years ago, in the hope that he could give HS hockey the publicity it is due.

Good luck the rest of the regular season. Enjoy the upcoming Road to Madison, but most of all have fun.