Homestand and road-trip position describe where a team is within a sequence of consecutive home or away games. These labels identify a schedule position only. No other variables are included.
Quick Summary
Daily Rink Form uses:
- H1, H2, H3 and higher for home games
- R1, R2, R3 and higher for road games
The count resets whenever the team switches between home and away. So the sequence H1, R1, R2, H1, R1 means a team played a home game followed by two road games followed by a return home for one game followed by a road game.
These labels make it possible to distinguish the first game of a homestand or road trip from later games in the same sequence and, once enough results are available, compare team performance at different positions.
Team performance by homestand or road-trip position
Once completed-game data is available, Daily Rink Form can calculate team performance by home or road sequence position.
Possible measures include:
- Record
- Points percentage
- Goals for per game
- Goals against per game
- Goal differential per game
- Shots for per game
- Shots against per game
- Shot differential per game
Why later positions may need grouping
Some teams will have relatively few H5, H6, R5 or R6 games. Showing each position separately can produce tiny samples.
Daily Rink Form may therefore group later positions, such as:
- H4+
- R4+
or use another minimum-sample rule. The exact grouping should be disclosed on the relevant table.
Sample-size caution
Homestand and road-trip position can quickly create small samples.
A team may have many H1 games but only a few H5 games. A strong or weak record at one specific position may therefore reflect only a handful of games.
Daily Rink Form should show the number of qualifying games beside:
- Records
- Percentages
- Per-game averages
- League rankings
How postponed games affect sequence position
A postponed or rescheduled game can alter the H and R labels of several games. They will be recalculated based on the new game date.
What happens if a game changes venue?
If the official venue changes from home to away or vice versa, the sequence must also change.
The tracker should use the official home/away designation. A venue change can reset or extend the surrounding H and R sequences.
Neutral-site games
Neutral-site games may require a separate rule because the official schedule still designates one team as home and the other as away even though neither is playing in its usual arena. The initial tracker follows the official home/away designation.
If neutral-site games become relevant, they should be identified separately rather than silently treated as ordinary home or road situations.