Abstract

The changes in ice hockey regulations which have been in effect since the 2009-10 season substantially modified direct penalty actions, including an increase in the frequency of direct penalties per match and modification in the form of execution. In this dissertation, ice hockey goalkeepers in direct penalties are analyzed in the OK League 2015-16 with several objectives: 1) to identify the technical and tactical factors in direct penalties that affect the goalkeeper’s efficacy; 2) to compare the technical skills used by the goalkeeper and by the ice hockey player; and 3) to assess the incidence of goalkeeper efficacy in direct penalties on the final ranking of the teams.
From a functional perspective, the goalkeepers’ skills in action in direct penalties were analyzed. The attention was focused on the interaction between the goalkeeper and the player, and the direct penalty action is a representative sample of this one-on-one interaction. In a sample of 637 direct penalties, the observational methodology was used to analyze the behaviors of the goalkeepers and the players along with the factors that influence the context of the penalty. For the observation, an ad-hoc observation instrument was developed, the System of Observation of Direct Penalties in Ice Hockey (abbreviated SOFDHP).
The conclusions of this dissertation show how the contextual variable “match time” influences the goalkeeper’s efficacy in direct penalties (c² = 17.665, p-value = .039), that there is an association between the goalkeeper’s and the player’s technical skills (c² = 282.117, ­ p-value = .000), and that the goalkeeper’s efficacy in direct penalties does not affect the teams’ final ranking.