How good is Cam York?
A shift-by-shift breakdown of York's performance against Wisconsin on Feb. 7, which was his highest game score of the season
Welcome to Fresh Ice, a data-driven college hockey newsletter. Each week, I’ll be publishing fresh (no pun intended) content that focuses on educating and explaining all aspects of the game. Haven’t subscribed yet?
I’m back! I took last week almost completely off from hockey work, which I haven’t done since … last summer? Anyway, I’m back, Fresh Ice is back, and let’s talk about Cam York.
The Philadelphia Flyers 2019 first-round pick played 27 minutes in his first college game despite spraining his ankle partway through. He missed the next three games, then came back and looked like he hadn’t missed a beat. Throughout the season, he was the prototypical No. 1 defenseman and played heavy minutes for Michigan almost every night.
At the end of the year, York led all defensemen in goals with five, tied for fourth on the team in total points (16) and tied Nick Blankenburg for most points by a defenseman.
When I was working on my post about game score from a couple weeks ago, I was inspired to combine that information with my favorite chapter from Jack Han’s book, Hockey Tactics 2020. Jack broke down every single one of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin’s shifts from a particular game, and I found it incredibly valuable and educational.
While I am nowhere even close to Jack’s level of insight and knowledge, I thought it would be fun and interesting to do the same for Michigan’s players.
York led all defensemen with an average game score of 0.560. Instead of breaking down his most average game — 0.563 on Jan. 11, for those curious — I’ll break down his best game so, selfishly, I have more to talk about.
For some context, here’s a scatter plot of York’s game scores throughout the season:
His score of 1.283 in Michigan’s 8-4 win over Wisconsin on Feb. 7 was his highest score of the year, and he had five games with a score above 1 in the second half of the season — as compared to three in the first half.
Disclaimer, before I get into the breakdown: I’m not an expert here, but I do watch a lot of hockey and read the work of people much smarter than me at every chance I get. If you have additional thoughts on the shifts I’m about to show you, please share them with me!
These videos show the shifts I found particularly notable, but if you’d like to watch all of York’s ice time, here are the full videos from the first, second and third periods.
First Period
19:49: York gets the puck at the point and finds Luke Martin for the shot. Appears to back off on the last step to get to the loose puck on the wall. Seemed to think Jack Becker would beat WIS27 to it, but instead Wisconsin enters the offensive zone with control and WIS18 shoots wide.
17:52: The clip cut weird, so take my word for it that York makes the pass to Martin before the shot. He pinches for the rebound, gets into (and wins) a short king wall battle with the brothers Caufield.
14:38: Wins race to loose puck, no-look reverse pass to Martin to initiate the breakout.
11:22: WIS29 gets a step along the wall, good stick from York to poke puck away and force Brock Caufield back up the wall. Eric Ciccolini comes in to support and Michigan regains possession.
10:12: In position for puck after wall battle, receives quick pass from Garrett Van Wyhe. WIS17 thinks about going in front of net, York pauses behind net just long enough to get him to commit that way then heads up ice with a bit of separation.
7:54: The game’s first power play. York gets the puck after Jacob Hayhurst wins the draw. Snaps a pass to Nick Blankenburg low in the zone, who finds Jake Slaker for the one-timer. 1-0.
7:15: Engages with both WIS17 and WIS22 on the wall after long possession for Wisconsin. Pokes puck out and sends up ice.
5:22: Michigan’s first penalty kill. York comes out with first group, Michigan clears twice, and he comes back on later in the kill to finish it out.
0:35: Chases puck as it rims from left to right. Ties up his man on the wall, initiates breakout when he gets the puck back.
Second Period
17:25: York poke-checks WIS29 just inside the blueline. Puck comes free and WIS25 picks it up, makes a spin move to find WIS11 for the finish. 1-1.
15:10: Puts the puck on net, Hayhurst grabs rebound out of a pile in front. Hayhurst gets puck in his hip pocket, waits, dusts off twice, then shoots over the goalie’s shoulder from a sharp angle. 2-1.
14:27: After an unsettled sequence, York recovers from behind net to pressure WIS4 with the puck. Pushes him to the outside and back up the wall, Holloway’s pass is picked off and Slaker battles his way to a scoring chance the other way.
11:25: WIS4 carries puck in, Jimmy Lambert tries to take him off it. Shot from WIS24 rebounds out, Holloway gets behind York while he's looking at the slot and puts the rebound in. 3-2.
4:57: WIS18 grabs puck in NZ and works outside because York is committed to the inside. York quickly changes direction to keep Lindmark from getting around him. Mann saves the backhand shot.
2:50: York helps chip puck into the zone after an unsettled sequence. Slaker wraps around and Nick Granowicz pokes in the rebound. 4-2.
2:30: Back on the ice after the goal. York keeps WIS19 to the outside, gets to puck in corner after contact. Rims it around and out of zone. After Wisconsin reenters, he engages with WIS11 coming off the wall. Van Wyhe goes to the box for slashing.
1:15: Tracks long Wisconsin blueline to blueline pass and beats WIS16 to it. Michigan gets a controlled entry.
Third Period
17:02 : Breaks up WIS18 trying to break out shorthanded (Lindmark had two SH goals this year). Blankenburg starts breakout, drops for York who carries up and bumps to Hayhurst. Hayhurst sends it right back and York gets good look on net, probably better chance if he hadn’t had to stretch as far for the pass.
16:01: Catches pass from Slaker slightly in front of himself, not in position to shoot. Thinks about making a move, then passes back to Slaker. Pass lands up high, not in position for one-timer. Weird rebound comes back to him, tries to chip it at net.
13:50: Goes for loose puck in corner, heads up wall through traffic rather than cutting back behind net. Turns puck over and 16 shoots wide.
8:53: Cole Caufield (WIS8) wants to cut in at blueline to go down slot, York follows laterally and uses body to keep Caufield from getting a shot on net. Pushes him back above the circle and wide, makes him give to WIS2 for shot that gets blocked.
8:24: Pinches for puck rimming around, looks to work around net to create offense (maybe try wrap around, which he’d scored twice already this year). Tripped behind net. Wisconsin comes 2v1 with Cole Caufield and Max Zimmer. Zimmer scores. 5-4.
6:22: Blocks shot in front from WIS20, pokes puck up and heads to bench in a little discomfort.
5:04: Slaker pressured, Wisconsin forces a regroup. York passes up to Blankenburg for entry, Blankenburg tries to evade pressure and ends up all the way behind net to restart entry sequence. York carries up ice, drops for Slaker who does a give and go with Will Lockwood to get into the zone.
4:20: Comes down to grab rebound after shot from Lockwood. Surveys options and passes cross-slot to Slaker for one timer, which goes off the post.
I hope you enjoyed this breakdown! I plan to continue this series with as many players as y’all would like me to talk about, so if you have any players you’d particularly like to see, feel free to comment, reply to this email or find me on Twitter.
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