All about the Numbers: BAD BOY, BAD BOYS…

Kicking off SRJC’s Top 10 statistics of the 2015-16 season: No. 10- Penalties.    
                                       
It's no secret that the SRJC Hockey team has an undying love for the penalty box. Seriously, players camped out there so much this season we’re thinking of charging them rent. 
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The Polar Bears took 166 penalties in 25 games for a total of 454 minutes— that’s a 95-minute increase from the 2014-15 season. While the team incurred a variety of different infractions, the most common were roughing (30) and tripping (24). A close third was unsportsmanlike conduct and interference (both at 15). 
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Most of the penalties came in the third period at 65 offenses, with the second period close behind at 57. The least penalty-heavy period was the first at 44; a bit of a surprise given that several Polar Bears’ players admit the first period is their weakest of the three. 

The October match against Gonzaga University goes down as the game with the most trips to the box (12), with the Sept. 25 game against Cal and Oct. 4 Boise State game right behind at 11. All three of those games came within the first two weeks of the season. After that, the Polar Bears never registered more than nine a game, with the least being two against San Francisco State Jan. 23. A round of high fives for improvement!

"We definitely need to be more disciplined. Even though we have a good penalty kill, times when we were stuck killing one off we could have been controlling the puck in the offensive zone and creating chances for ourselves," said forward Travis LaBrucherie. "Or being down a guy because of DQ's. You just never know the opportunities we could have had if we played with a little more control."

Staying disciplined has always been a weak spot in SRJC’s game. We know that penalties go along with the territory, but the rate at which the Polar Bears were getting collared had us biting our nails every second of every penalty kill. Especially when it came to those high pressured games when tempers got the best of players. 
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Included in those 166 penalties were eight game disqualifications and three game misconducts, mostly for fighting. Those we could have done without, but we sorta understand: sometimes you just gotta drop the gloves.

Tune in Monday, Feb. 29 to see what No. 9 is on SRJC’s Top 10 Statistics from the 2015-16 season. 
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