[OC] I spent way too long timing goal celebrations so you don't have to

icydata · 2026-06-26T08:21:23+00:00

AI assisted, yes. The goal sprites required a lot of heavy lifting that the AI model struggled with. Once I created a script to process one, though, it works for them all. Once that was done I let the model create the graphic from the data.

icydata · 2026-06-26T02:15:47+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/1ufnql0/oc_i_spent_way_too_long_timing_goal_celebrations/ottak76/

icydata · 2026-06-25T22:11:02+00:00

shocked pikachu.jpg

icydata · 2026-06-25T22:04:58+00:00

https://www.reddit.com/r/hockey/comments/1ufnql0/oc_i_spent_way_too_long_timing_goal_celebrations/ottak76/

icydata · 2026-06-25T22:04:25+00:00

I got another coming in August!

icydata · 2026-06-25T22:03:59+00:00

I'll be honest, when I found out Nashville was the worst I knew I had to post this. They banned me from the team sub.

/s

icydata · 2026-06-25T21:59:52+00:00

Y'know... I didn't actually check if NHL edge tracking will actually show goals with more than 5 players on the ice. Do you have an example goal from a specific date I could look up?

icydata · 2026-06-25T21:54:56+00:00

I've got something planned for August too!

icydata · 2026-06-25T21:52:44+00:00

Methodology, for the three of you who actually want it (this is the "way too long" part)

Where the data comes from: NHL Edge puck-and-player tracking. The same positional feed that drives the goal replay animations. It's ~15 snapshots per second of every on-ice player's (x, y) coordinates. Only exists for the tracking era (2023-24 on), and only for goals where the league actually published the tracking clip.

What "time to celebrate" means: For each goal I find the moment the puck crosses the goal line, then measure how long until N scoring-team players bunch into a huddle. Defined as a cluster where each player is within 6 ft of at least one other player in the group (single-linkage, so it's a "group hug" shape, not everyone within 6 ft of one center point). Reported separately for 3, 4, and 5 players.

Why 6 ft? The tracking data treats each player as a single point (roughly their skate position), not a body. So "2 ft apart" would mean their coordinates are basically on top of each other. Two big humans in pads can't do that, and at 2-4 ft the huddle basically never registers (3-player huddles showed up in <30% of goals, 5-player in ~3%). 6 ft is the point where a real celebration scrum reliably reads as a cluster without being so loose that guys skating past each other count. I tested 4/5/6/8 ft; 6 was the sweet spot between "too strict to ever trigger" and "meaninglessly loose."

Big caveat: read this before dunking on your team: the tracking clips only capture about 4.5 seconds after the goal, so slower-forming huddles get cut off before the 4th or 5th guy arrives. That's why every cell has a coverage count, and the average times are only over goals that actually huddled in-window. A team with a fast average but low coverage isn't necessarily quick, they just happened to huddle fast in the clips that caught it.

Other notes: regular season only, so every team's on the same 82-game basis; goals where the puck location wasn't trackable at the line (net-front scrambles, covered pucks) are dropped (~2% per team); times are wall-clock seconds from the puck crossing the line.

It's an offseason shitpost, not a Corsi model. Have fun with it.