Shot Zones: Where CHL Goals Actually Come From

Shot volume tells you how often a team is shooting. Shot zone data tells you where those shots are coming from. The two metrics together paint a much more complete picture of offensive and defensive quality than either does alone.

The five zones

• Crease: directly in front of the net, in tight. Highest probability of a goal; roughly 1-in-4 shots from here score.
• Slot: the prime scoring area between the faceoff dots and out to the top of the circles. About 1-in-7 slot shots score.
• Mid-range: between the slot and the perimeter, roughly between the circles and the blue line. About 1-in-12 shots score.
• Corner: behind or sharply beside the goal. Low conversion; most dangerous when creating rebounds or pass-outs.
• Point: at or near the blue line. About 1-in-25 shots score, most dangerous as a trigger for traffic and deflections rather than clean goals.

What it means for team evaluation

A team generating a high share of its shots from the crease and slot is a genuinely dangerous offensive team. A team whose shot volume is padded with perimeter shots may look impressive on raw shot count but is not creating equivalent scoring chances. Defensively, a team that surrenders a lot of crease and slot shots is in a much more dangerous position than one that allows mostly point shots.

Reading the Shot Locations page

JuniorPuck's Shot Locations page shows the zone breakdown table (shots, goals, and conversion rate per zone) alongside an interactive heatmap where brighter areas indicate higher shot or goal density. Filter by team to see how a specific club's offensive profile compares to the league average in each zone.

The WHL data gap

Shot zone data on JuniorPuck covers the OHL and QMJHL only. The WHL play-by-play feed does not include shot coordinates; the system records that a shot was taken but not where on the ice it originated. Without coordinates, zone attribution is impossible. This is a genuine limitation: WHL teams are evaluated on goal location (goals have recorded positions) but not full shot location.