Understanding Stats
Reading the Standings
What W, L, OT, Pts, and Pts% mean in a CHL standings table, and why points percentage tells you more than raw point totals when teams have played different numbers of games.
The standings table is the first place most fans look to assess a season. It is also the one table where the column labels require a bit of context to read correctly, especially the difference between Pts and Pts%.
The loser point
Hockey uses a three-outcome points system. A regulation win earns two points. A regulation loss earns zero. But a team that loses in overtime or a shootout earns one point (the loser point). This exists to reward teams for pushing games past 60 minutes, and it means every overtime game adds three points to the standings (two for the winner, one for the loser) rather than the usual two.
The practical effect: teams are incentivized to play for overtime rather than risk a regulation loss. Late-game score protection and the conservative stretch run are partly products of the loser point.
Points percentage
Raw points only tell the full story when every team has played the same number of games. Early in the season, or when schedules are uneven due to postponements, two teams can have the same point total while one has played significantly more games. Points percentage (Pts%) corrects for this by dividing earned points by the maximum possible (GP × 2). A team at .600 Pts% has earned 60 percent of every available point.
Pts% is the fairest way to rank teams at any point in the season. JuniorPuck's standings show both columns.
Tip
When comparing two teams in November, use Pts% rather than raw points. A team at .620 with 48 games played is running ahead of a team at .580 with 40 games played, even if raw points look similar.
ROW and tiebreakers
Many leagues also track ROW (Regulation and Overtime Wins), which strips out shootout wins. Shootouts are considered a skills competition rather than a true team result, so ROW is the first tiebreaker when two teams finish with identical points. A team with more ROW is considered to have won more games in actual hockey play.