Frequently Asked Questions

Currently, the following teams are tracked:

• Buffalo Sabres
• Chicago Blackhawks
• Colorado Avalanche
• Minnesota Wild
• Pittsburgh Penguins
• San Jose Sharks
• Toronto Maple Leafs
• Washington Capitals

When you first create your account on the site, you must choose which team (of those shown above) to follow. This establishes your team loyalty. You are allowed to play SPG only for that team's games.

For each game, you should predict which player on your team will: 1. Take the first shot on goal, 2. Get called for the first penalty, and 3. Score the first goal...
... for every period, including overtime and the shootout.

You can make picks for every game in the regular season and playoffs for your chosen team. You cannot pick SPG for teams that are not tracked by the site, or those which you have not chosen to follow. If two tracked teams are playing in the same game, you can make SPG picks for yours only.

If, for example, you don't think the team will get a penalty in the 2nd period, you can select the "Won't happen this period" (a.k.a. WNH) option when making your picks.

Note: You are not asked to guess who gets the first penalty in the shootout. That just doesn't happen.

You can edit your picks any time before the league-published start time.

You can turn on Autoload by visiting your Account page.

If you enable this feature, each time you visit the site to make SPG picks for a game, the system will automatically fill in the form pulldowns with the players you chose last time.

This does not save your picks for you; it's not auto-pilot. You still have to submit the form to save your picks for that game.

But, it can save you some time if you make the same picks each game, or if you simply don't want to start fresh every single time.

We lock each game at the start time published by the NHL. While there's always a few minutes' difference between that and the actual start of the game, it varies from city to city, singer to singer, and other things beyond our control. Locking the games at start-time ensures that nobody can sneak in late.

You will receive one (1) point for each correct guess. If you thought Player X was going to take the first shot on goal in the 1st period, and he does... that's a point for you. If you guessed that there would be no goals for the tracked team in the 3rd period, and they do not score... that's a point for you.

Each game is scored against the "official" NHL play-by-play statistics.

A shot that goes wide doesn't count, nor does a blocked shot. The first shot of a period must qualify as a shot-on-goal by the NHL. You should remember that the first player in the shootout might go wide on his attempt, and that will not count as the first "shot", per the NHL's statisticians.

In our scoring algorithm, bench minor penalties are ignored because it's up to the coach to decide who sits in the box. Only the first player-responsible penalty is counted for each period.

You should make picks for OT and SO, even if you think the game will end in regulation.

Points are awarded only for the periods played in that particular game. If a game ends in regulation, your OT and SO picks are not scored.

If a game goes to overtime or shootout, then your OT or SO picks are "live", and you'll get a point for guessing correctly.

This means that you will not get points for picking "Won't happen this period" in OT if the game doesn't actually go to overtime. Same for the shootout.

Unfortunately, we cannot provide real-time updates.

The site administrator(s) will update game stats as they can. That might mean that one game is updated after the first period, and finalized immediately after the game ends. It could also mean that another game is finalized the following morning (or afternoon or evening).

Probably because the game is not locked yet. You can only view the results and/or other players' picks after the game is locked (see "The Game has Not Started Yet" above).

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