There’s sample data for Excel practice on my Contextures site, including one file with hockey player data. Last week, I uploaded a new page with pivot table examples showing ways to work with that data. And that reminded me of my recent trip down the hockey rabbit hole, to learn more about the “What game is that?” guy from TikTok.
Hockey Player Data
First, if you’d like to get the hockey player data for Excel practice, and see the pivot tables, go to the Hockey Player Data Analysis page on my Contextures site.
The player data is from the teams’ rosters, and one pivot table shows a comparison of player age, height, and weight, on the Canada and USA teams.
The player home towns were in the data too, so you could even make a map in Excel.
The blue dots in this map show where the Canadian players grew up. Most towns are close to the border, or in the prairie provinces.
The USA players were a little more spread out, but most were from the Great Lakes area, or New England.
What Analysis Would You Do?
What would you do with the hockey player data from the team rosters?
I had fun with the hockey player data, but I’m certainly not a sports expert or sports data analyst!
And no, I’ve never played hockey, except for family games of table hockey, and I usually lose those to my grandson.
My home town had a Junior A team, so In the olden days, I went to lots of Cornwall Royals hockey games, and sat right behind the home team bench. But trust me, that’s not as glamorous as it sounds, especially after a couple of hard-fought periods, in sweaty jerseys.
And in “related” qualifications, my grandson caught a puck once, at his cousin’s hockey practice, in Saskatchewan. And like any proud grandparent, I take full credit for his hockey-related reflexes (and Canadian winter fashion choices). 
What Game is That?
Working on that page reminded me of the “What game is that?” guy from TikTok. One of his videos showed up on my “For You” feed, and it was fascinating.
Sometimes, in a television show, or a movie, there’s a TV in the background, and a game playing on that TV.
In the video that I saw, the TV show was NCIS, Season 13, Episode 2, and at the start of the show, they were in a sports bar, with a hockey game on the overhead TV.
It obviously wasn’t an NHL game, because the rights for those games would be too expensive for a TV show’s budget. So the TikTok guy went down a very long and winding rabbit hole, to find out what game it was.
Who Is the Game Detective?
After watching his video, I went down a rabbit hole of my own, to find out more about this television game detective.
On TikTok, his name is NoProblemGambler, and the first thing I found was an article about him in The Athletic.
In the article, they gave his real name – Ian Araujo – and described him as “a 25-year-old Manitoban.” Based on those 3 facts – name, age and location – I was able to find him on LinkedIn.
He attended the University of Regina, where he majored in Sports and Recreation Studies, Sports Management. He’s had jobs at Canadian sports organizations, including the Saskatchewan Roughrider football club, and the Vancouver Whitecaps football club.
And he doesn’t just sit at his computer, and analyze mystery games – he’s also a runner, at least he was in the past! In June 2014, he completed the Half Marathon, as part of the Manitoba Marathon. You can learn more about that annual event on Wikipedia.
And one final bit of information turned up during my trip down the rabbit hole – he got married in July 2021. Congratulations!
Solving the Hockey Game Mystery
I won’t spoil the hockey game mystery – you can see all the detective work in the TikTok video below.
But here are a few clues that Araujo used:
- He looked at the player jerseys, covered with sponsor logos, and knew that it was most likely a European hockey league.
- Those jerseys didn’t match any of the top tier teams, so he started looking at lower-level leagues, and their teams.
- Later, an advertisement on the hockey rink boards gave Araujo another clue, and that led to a team, and a choice among three possible games.
Do you think he was able to pinpoint it to the exact game that was playing in the NCIS episode? To find out, watch the video in the section below.
TikTok Video – Hockey Game Mystery Solved
Here is the TikTok video that I saw, where the mystery of the NCIS hockey game is solved.
This is amazing work by NoProblemGambler!
The video is only 2:39 long, but I’m sure it took him many hours to do the detective work.
@noproblemgambler Replying to @beckettalves This one is for all of the 4th division German hockey fans who watch my videos #sports #hockey #ncis #germany ♬ original sound – NPG
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Down a Hockey Game Rabbit Hole
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What a fascinating journey through the world of hockey stats! Debra Dalgleish’s post takes us deep into the game with insightful analysis and a passion for the sport. It’s a captivating read for any hockey enthusiast. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm with us!