Explore NHL goal data as never before! This interactive visualization maps over 16,000 goals from the 2023 NHL season+ into cosmic formations.

📍 Star Chart View: View all goals as a star chart with galaxy regions subtly shaded. Search for any player and use the filter panel to customize which goals to include, then draw their constellation connecting related goal clusters.

⭐ What You'll Find: Goals are clustered by location on ice, shot type, game context, and player similarity. Similar goals form "galaxies" - grouped together like stellar formations. The names of all celestial features were generated by an LLM with context of the goals they contain.

🔍 How to Use: Search for a player, adjust filters (shot type, period, etc.), and click "Draw Constellation" to see their connected goals as patterns across the star chart.

🔍 How to Interpret: Think of this map as a star chart where every NHL goal becomes a star, and similar goals naturally cluster together to form cosmic neighborhoods.

What Makes Goals Similar?
Goals are grouped based on hockey situations:

• Where the shot came from - Goals from the slot vs. the point vs. faceoff circles
• How it was scored - Wrist shots, slap shots, deflections, etc.
• Game situation - Power play, penalty kill, even strength, empty net
• When it happened - Early in periods vs. late, different periods
• Who scored and who got beat - Similar players tend to score similar goals

Use the search to find your favorite player and see their "constellation" - the pattern of how and where they typically score!

📚 About: This project is inspired by the fabulous Map Of Github. The code to generate this project can be found on it's github repository nhl-cartography. There is also a "free roam" version of this dataset found at nhl-cartography-free-roam. This version lets you explore any star at will and pan the camera around. It lets you get closer with the data and can be more interesting. Please note that this site does not work as well on mobile.