15 May 2023

The first edition of LINHAC was completely digital. When LiU organizes the world's largest conference in hockey analytics for the second time, together with Linköping HC, it will be a hybrid event with a busy schedule on campus Valla and with participants from all over the world.

View from a arena.
In june LiU will arrange the world's largest conference on ice hockey analytics. Photographer: Alex Korolkoff
"We once again have many top names in the field in the program, but what is new is that this year we also have analysts from teams in the NHL", says Patrick Lambrix, professor at the department of computer science, IDA and chair of LINHAC (Linköping Hockey Analytics Conference).

Research group at LiU

Data-driven analysis and visualization is an area that is growing rapidly in the world of sports. Football is the sport that has come the furthest in the area. But development in ice hockey is fast. Today, pretty much everything that happens both on and off ice is analyzed at the elite clubs. Since 2017, a research group at LiU has been interested in what is called sports analytics, and since a few years ago the subject is also addressed in a six-credits course. The group is led by Patrick Lambrix and his colleague Niklas Carlsson, senior associate professor at IDA.

Busy days

In 2022, LiU, together with Linköping HC, arranged LINHAC for the first time. It became the world's largest conference in the field and the first in Europe. June 7-9, 2023, it's happening again. This year it will be a hybrid event with packed days in the B building on Campus Valla - but also with participants and lecturers from around the world digitally.

"LINHAC highlights the use of data in hockey in a broad way. Representatives from national teams and club teams discuss how data is used for scouting, evaluation of players and match strategies. Academics and companies present the latest algorithms and tools for hockey analytics. Broadcasters will show how to use analytics to make their broadcasts more interesting", says Patrick Lambrix.

Student competition

During the conference, the finalists in LINHAC’s student competition from Sweden (LiU and KTH), Canada and Switzerland will present their work.

"The task in their project was to use data from a previous SHL season (Swedish Hockey League) to try to come up with new interesting insights" says Patrick Lambrix.

LINHAC is organized by LiU and Linköping HC in collaboration with the Alliance of European Hockey Clubs and Linköping Municipality and with support from the Swedish Research Council for Sport Science.

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