A home advantage? Examining 100 years of team success in National Hockey League playoff overtime games

Desmond McEwan

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Abstract

Objectives: To examine a potential home (dis)advantage in various types of playoff overtime games in the National Hockey League (NHL). Design: Archival. Method: Success rates for home and away teams in win-imminent overtime games (i.e., wherein a team has an opportunity to win the playoff series) were compared to their respective success in non-imminent overtime games (i.e., the outcome of the game does not determine the outcome of the series). Results: When away teams had an opportunity to win a series, they were significantly more likely to win an overtime game compared to home teams. No such advantage was evident for home teams when they had an opportunity to win a series. Conclusions: When an NHL team has an opportunity to win a playoff series, there appears to be an advantage for visiting teams—not home teams—in winning an overtime game.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)195-199
Number of pages5
JournalPsychology of Sport and Exercise
Volume43
Early online date27 Feb 2019
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jul 2019

Funding

Desmond McEwan’s research was supported by a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship award (administered by the Government of Canada and Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council ).

Keywords

  • Championship
  • Choke
  • Clutch
  • Home advantage
  • Pressure
  • Self-attention

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Applied Psychology

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