- All teams averaged 19.9 minutes per game; Canada West teams averaged 22.6
- Alberta were the least-penalized team if you adjust for conference average
- York were the least-penalized team if you don't adjust, but six others were within two minutes per game (i.e., one extra minor penalty per game)
- Most-penalized team: Lethbridge (29.9, 32% above CW average)
The long version:
Sources: AUS, Canada West, OUA. Standard caveats about the reliability of the statistics apply. Everyone played 28 regular-season games, making comparisons easier.
Average penalty minutes per game (conference-wide)
Canada West, 22.6
AUS, 19.9
OUA, 18.8
Fewest penalty minutes per game
York, 14.1
Queen's, 15.3
Western, 15.7
Lakehead, 15.9
Acadia, 16.0
Alberta, 16.0
Guelph, 16.1
Brock, 16.6
UNB, 17.3
Carleton, 17.9
7 of these 10 teams are from Ontario, and Ontario teams, generally speaking, took fewer penalties. So that makes sense. If we adjust for conference average, though, we get a different order (cut off at 10% below average):
Fewest penalty minutes compared to conference average
Alberta, -29%
York, -25%
Acadia, -20%
Queen's, -19%
Western, -16%
Lakehead, -16%
Guelph, -14%
UNB, -13%
Brock, -11%
Alberta jumps to the top as you might expect after seeing the high average for the West. Interestingly, Acadia took fewer penalties than anyone in the AUS but they finished ahead of only Dalhousie in terms of goal differential.
Most penalty minutes per game
Lethbridge, 29.9
Saskatchewan, 23.9
Moncton, 23.8
Regina, 23.8
UQTR, 23.6
Waterloo, 23.4
St. Thomas, 22.2
Manitoba, 21.7
Ottawa, 21.7
UBC, 21.6
The Pronghorns (now there's a team name) are way above everyone else. To compare, Saskatchewan were called for 14 ten-minute misconducts in their 28 conference games. If the Huskies went nuts and and doubled that number of misconducts, they wouldn't catch Lethbridge.
Most penalty minutes compared to conference average
Lethbridge, +32%
UQTR, +25%
Waterloo, +24%
Moncton, +20%
Ottawa, +15%
Ryerson, +15%
St. Thomas, +12%
McGill, +10%
Pretty much the same list.
Most interesting. I think the higher amount of penalties in the West might not just be a matter of referees: most Western teams draw a lot of their players from the WHL, which has a reputation (deserved, from my experience watching the various major junior leagues) for much tougher play than either the OHL or the QMJHL. In my mind, there's a good chance that that translates somewhat to the CIS level. Also interesting to see Queen's so high up on the least-penalized list: I wouldn't have guessed that from the games I was at. They never drew a ton of penalties but usually seemed to pick up about as many as the other team, so their low penalty numbers never jumped out at me.
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