On December 23, 2016, I put together a survey of users from /r/HockeyPlayers.
It worked better than expected. I got 95 survey responses. This post summarizes what they said.
The survey had two aims:
- Understand what kind of hockey players were regular readers.
- Understand how much demand there was for more beer league systems resources.
Thank you to everyone who shared their answers and helped build this resource.
Here is what we learned about the /r/HockeyPlayers community.
Early site updates were also shared on a Facebook page for Beer League Tips. That channel is historical context from the launch period, not the main place to follow the material now.
Responses
Responses came almost entirely from the US and Canada.
Several states and provinces were more prominent than others.
Respondents skewed middle-aged and male. There were no responses from anyone under 18, or over 55. I plan to play hockey until I am 75. I do not know about you.
Nothing here is surprising. It is probably a mix of Reddit demographics and the mix of beginner and intermediate adult hockey players.
Hockey skills
We asked respondents to rate their hockey skills from “New” to “Competitive.” New players have never played. Competitive players had a career in professional or elite U20 teams.
Beginner and intermediate players dominate, with only a few other skill types showing interest in this material.
To understand how people play, we asked what hockey they had played: youth leagues, beer leagues, drop-in and shinny, and whether they had coached.
Surprisingly, 5% of respondents had never played hockey (but may be interested in learning). At a future date I may cover outdoor shinny or pond hockey. Plenty of people still love the cold wind and the nostalgia of hockey at its roots.
Positioning
I also wanted to know which positions beer league players take.
That distribution looks expected. On a typical beer league 14-player roster there are 6 wingers, 3 centers, 4 defensemen, and a goalie.
I was curious how flexible people were. Here is the split between players who chose only one position and those who chose more than one:
Again, about what I expected, and still interesting to see.
I also looked at how the position mix shifted by skill level.
Beginners lean toward wing, as expected. Intermediate players play a lot more defense. Advanced and competitive players tend to play a bit of everything, likely because they often have higher skill than their beer league teammates.
And, of course, who can forget:
Bottom line
Ninety-five readers told us beginner and intermediate beer league players wanted short, practical systems help. That is still what Beer League Tips is for.
When the same lines need to show up every week, that is what RosterFX is for.
