Welcome to the
BIG
DATA
CUP
2024

Our goal for the 2024 Big Data Cup is to both identify and provide opportunity for burgeoning analysts in the hockey analytics field while also pushing forward women’s hockey and research in the broader sphere.

Good luck to all the Big Data Cup-ers!

Big Data Cup Puck

2024 Big Data Cup

Data Sets

The data sets available for use have been crafted specifically for the Big Data Cup. They are not in original format but are intended to be a small portion of Stathletes’ data that is translated for public consumption. They focus on a rich event feed from recent tournament style games.

Women’s hockey play by play: (labeled "2024 BDC")

We have provided access to data from the game being played at its highest level and we hope participants work with this robust data set from international tournaments.

Two research areas

Please identify in the title which area you are focusing on:

  1. Special Teams
  2. Zone Entries/Zone Exits

Access the data here.

NOTE: As noted on the legal agreement, this data cannot be re-sold and is intended to be used for research purposes only.

2024 Timeline and Key Dates

Interested in participating?

Anyone interested is encouraged to apply and data will be provided publicly to advance hockey research.

There will be 2 categories for participants:

  1. Highschool & undergraduate - all participants must provide proof of enrollment at high school or undergraduate level
  2. Open - This category includes graduate students and anyone interested in hockey research.

Teams can be 1-4 participants.

Finalists will be selected* on will have the opportunity to present their findings to our panel of sport executives at our reception at Rotman on April 19th.

Prizes will be awarded to top qualifiers.

Participation in Big Data Cup competition is open any individual regardless of background, experience, previous analysis, or public work.

*Evaluation criteria includes, but is not limited to: a demonstrated ability to creating actionable insights for a general manager or head coach working in hockey and not just research); generating creative ideas, which may mean borrowing and applying ideas from other sports, leveraging domain knowledge, and/or filling gaps created by limitations of public data; a performative understanding of how to work with large data sets.

Submissions

  1. All are encouraged to submit a written report that will be due March 8th, 2024.

    Maximum 6 pages, including figures (size limit 10GB on submission).

    • Define the question you asked
    • Provide a short summary of your approach
    • Give an overview of your findings
    • Identify key action points from your analysis
    • Data and code may be included as an appendix

    Submissions can be emailed to: bigdatacup@stathletes.com with subject line: Big Data Cup 2024.

    Please note that email size is limited to 25MB, to send larger submissions (up to 10GB), use Dropbox, Google Drive or other file-sharing services and include the link in your submission email.

  2. Selected semi-finalists will be contacted Finalist submissions will be due via video March 22, 2024 and should:
    • Video should be maximum 5 minutes in length and should summarize your findings from your submissions
    • Video can be sent to and bigdatacup@stathletes.com should be in X format (a horizontal phone video works great!)

    Please note that email size is limited to 25MB, to send larger submissions (up to 10GB), use Dropbox, Google Drive or other file-sharing services and include the link in your submission email.

  3. Further correspondence will be shared with options to showcase research both in person and virtual.