Scientists confirm link between walking on locker room logos and losing records
/The Elbow staff
The University of Toronto is home to a new study uncovering the danger behind walking over team logos. Source
TORONTO, ON – Scientists at the University of Toronto today confirmed that there is an "absolutely quantifiable" link between teams whose players walk on locker room logos and the amount of years spent out of the playoffs.
The study found that between 1992 and 2016, every NHL team that made the playoffs had a less than five percent "walk-over rate". The teams with the longest current playoff droughts – Edmonton and Carolina – have committed the most amount of walk overs in the past 10 years.
"Most NHL teams have begun clueing in to the fact that stepping on the logo creates some very bad vibes that aren't just out of a movie script," Dr. Leigh Andersen, head of sports science at the university said on Monday. "While the recent trend to hire professionals in the analytics field has received large amounts of media attention, the hiring of omen doctors has been somewhat ignored."
"But their influence on franchises cannot be understated, and we hope that this study will help bring this to the fore."
The study uses the New Jersey Devils as a classic example. For years, then general manager Lou Lamoriello had a strict policy against facial hair. While players from other teams were growing playoff beards to help them win the Stanley Cup, his players were clean cut and managed to win three in eight years despite the rule.
Unbeknownst to Lamoriello, the harm that he was doing by not allowing his players to grow playoff beards was offset only by the respect shown to the logo in the locker room – a perfect "no walkover" rate for the entire season. If the Devils committed the sin of walking over the the logo just once in those years, the cups would have been nothing more than a dream.
Eric Krankowsky, vice-lead on the study, says that the link goes well beyond the professional levels of the sport.
"We studied every level of hockey all the way down to pee wee, and no surprises there, either. The teams that allow their kids to disrespect the logo are the dud factories. Scouts aren't even watching kids from these programs any more."
"Those who traipse around the locker room, treating the logo as if it were just some large piece of coloured carpet would be well advised to smarten up. The NHL is watching."
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