Welcome to the

BIG DATA CUP 2025

Our goal for the 2025 Big Data Cup is to both identify and provide opportunity for burgeoning analysts in the hockey analytics field while also pushing forward hockey research in the broader sphere.

Good luck to all the Big Data Cup-ers!

2025 Big Data Cup

Data Sets

Stathletes, Rotman School of Management, and the University of Toronto Sports Analytics Student Group (UTSPAN) have formed a dynamic three-way partnership to host The Big Data Cup, combining industry expertise, academic insight, and student innovation to tackle real-world challenges in sports analytics.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 recent games.

The dataset is comprised of Stathletes-tracked high calibre hockey league event data, as well as player tracking data generated from broadcast video. The included events have been translated from Stathletes’ raw data to enhance accessibility and interpretability. The various event types include shots, plays, takeaways, puck recoveries, dump ins, dump outs, zone entries, face offs and penalties. Event definitions may slightly differ from other sources. For each event, expanded details are provided and the relevant skaters and teams involved are indicated when necessary. The Big Data Cup is a

three research areas

This year's Big Data Cup offers three exciting research areas to explore! Tracking data must be used in any project.

Please identify in the title which area you will be focusing on:

Team Coordination

How do teams work together? Reveal valuable insights into team strategy and execution. Examples include:

Zone breakouts
Forecheck
Transition play
Special teams configurations

Skating Ability

How can skating be evaluated aside from speed? Redefine how skating ability is viewed to offer teams a deeper understanding of player performance. Examples include:

Skating agility and lateral movement
Stamina over long shifts and throughout a game
Movement profile when skating versus without the puck

Player Movement

How do players' on-puck and off-puck movements influence team dynamics and game outcomes? Develop a better understanding of player actions and their ripple effects on the ice. Examples include:

Creating space for themselves and teammates while on the puck
Defensive anticipation and positioning
Offensive off-puck awareness and positioning

Note: These examples are just starting points. Let your creativity shine!

Access the data here.

2025 Timeline and Key Dates

December - Data is released: GitHub link
December and January - Work on projects
January 26th - Deadline to submit projects
February 16th - Finalists will be asked to submit a 2 minute video explaining their project to the judges.
February 26th - Winners in both categories will be announced at the Big Data Cup Reception and Sports Analytics Event hosted at Rotman School of Management

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:

High School & Undergraduate - all participants must provide proof of enrolment at high school or undergraduate level
Open - This category includes graduate students and anyone interested in hockey research

Teams can be 1-4 participants.

Finalists will be selected at the end of January and will be asked to prepare a 2 minute video summarizing their findings. The winning entrants in each category will have their video played at the Sports Analytics and Business Event at Rotman School of Management in Toronto on February 26th 2025.

Prizes will be awarded to the winner of each category. Prizing includes one, individual mentorship conversation with an industry leader.

Participation in Big Data Cup competition is open to 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 January 26th 2025.

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 2025.

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 are due via video February 16th 2025 and should include the following:

Video should be maximum 2 minutes in length and should summarize your findings from your submission. This video will be sent to the judges and will be shown at the awards event on February 26th at Rotman School of Management
Video can be sent to bigdatacup@stathletes.com (a horizontal phone video words great!)