Mark "Fricken" Jankowski (aka The Big Jankowski)

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by fotze

Oh I know it didn't fit with the conclusion whatshisnuts was making, just thought it was interesting as I completely see the effect already watching my kid play in novice as a Dec bday.

Yeah, it's pretty obvious and results in most NHL players being born early in the year (March seems to be a good month). So plan ahead guys if you want to sire the next one.

The first chapter in "Outliers" is about how some Canadian hockey players born in the first months of the year enjoy advantages that those born later in the year don't have. You also write that birth month correlates closely with success in other sports. Why is this? It's a beautiful example of a self-fulfilling prophecy. In Canada, the eligibility cutoff for age-class hockey programs is Jan. 1. Canada also takes hockey really seriously, so coaches start streaming the best hockey players into elite programs, where they practice more and play more games and get better coaching, as early as 8 or 9. But who tends to be the "best" player at age 8 or 8? The oldest, of course -- the kids born nearest the cut-off date, who can be as much as almost a year older than kids born at the other end of the cut-off date. When you are 8 years old, 10 or 11 extra months of maturity means a lot. A Page 2 study After checking out Malcolm's Gladwell's new book, "Outliers," and his explanation of why Canadian hockey players born early in the year have a big advantage, we conducted a little study: We tallied up all the NHL players from this season who were born from 1980 to 1990. Sure enough: Many more were born early in the year than late. Note: We did not screen for Canadian-only players. Month Players January 51 February 46 March 61 April 49 May 46 June 49 July 36 August 41 September 36 October 34 November 33 December 30


So those kids get special attention. That's why there are more players in the NHL born in January and February and March than any other months. You see the same pattern, to an even more extreme degree, in soccer in Europe and baseball here in the U.S. It's one of those bizarre, little-remarked-upon facts of professional sports. They're biased against kids with the wrong

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2...=merron/081208

[BACKCHECK!!!]

Originally Posted by Reanimate

Huh? You got numbers to back up that silly statement?

Nope, just common sense.

Do you think that you could more accurately predict the NHL performance of a group of 12 year old players, or a group of 20 year old players? 17 or 19 years old? I would suggest that the older group is a safer bet than the younger. Not necessarily better, just easier to project.

[Ashasx]

Jankowski with 1 assist through the first period of his 3rd game.

[MrMastodonFarm]

So what's a good goal-point total for an 18 year old freshmen?

[getbak]

Originally Posted by MrMastodonFarm

So what's a good goal-point total for an 18 year old freshmen?

Last season, Gaudreau had 21 goals, 45 points in 44 games. He was the highest-scoring Freshman in Division I last year.

[Caged Great]

Anywhere over 30 is good. Anything near gaudreau is awesome.

Edit for points. Anything over 15 goals give or take should be above average.

[Prufrock]

PC Men's Hockey ‏@FriarsHockey
Jankowski and Army just denied on a two-on-one as both teams going for the win here in OT. 00:24 to play, RedHawks call timeout

-----

Game ends tied at 1-1.

EDIT: The game will officially go down as a tie, but the teams chose to do a shoot-out for fun I guess?

[blankall]

Originally Posted by fotze

Oh I know it didn't fit with the conclusion whatshisnuts was making, just thought it was interesting as I completely see the effect already watching my kid play in novice as a Dec bday.

The effect is huge. Which is very unfortunate, especially in the sports world, where minute differences can result in huge consequences.

From personal experience. My bday is in late October, and I am a late bloomer. I used to run 100m sprints from Grade 7-10. I was always good enough to make my school team, but would finish in bottom 50-30 range in the track meets. One year my coach discovered a loop hole that would allow anyone with a bday later than September 4 (the start of the school year) to run with the year below. That year I ran with the year below and finished second in my heat and fifth overall (out of about 50 kids).

The next year, they closed the loophole, and I was forced out of the sport as I was just not good enough to make the next level.

Because of the loophole, I went from being one of the youngest to one of the oldest and the differnnce was huge. Basically big enough to make the difference between me not competing in the sport and me being a finalist.

[korzym12]

http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=146518

[Frequitude]

Originally Posted by korzym12

http://www.eliteprospects.com/player.php?player=146518

Didnt realize Jankowski's great uncle is Red Kelly.

[T@T]

Originally Posted by Frequitude

Didnt realize Jankowski's great uncle is Red Kelly.

And his grandfather Lou played 5 seasons for the old Calgary Stampeders of the WHL

[Vulcan]

Originally Posted by T@T

And his grandfather Lou played 5 seasons for the old Calgary Stampeders of the WHL

He was quite the star in Calgary. If Mark can put up stats like his grandfather did in Calgary, it will be a great pick.

1958-59 Calgary Stampeders WHL 54 45 47 92 13 4 1 1 2 0 1959-60 Calgary Stampeders WHL 70 42 42 84 9 ---------- 1960-61 Calgary Stampeders WHL 69 57 42 99 7 5 3 2 5 2 1961-62 Calgary Stampeders WHL 64 44 40 84 13 7 2 4 6 0 1962-63 Calgary Stampeders WHL 67 24 26 50 4

[T@T]

Originally Posted by Vulcan

He was quite the star in Calgary. If Mark can put up stats like his grandfather did in Calgary, it will be a great pick.

LOL at the understatement, If Mark puts up stats like his grandfather in the NHL he would go down as one of the best flames ever if not the best!

[Torture]

I think a lot of people misinterpret the stats from Outliers. The main point of Malcom Gladwell's argument was that players born in January got more opportunity to play and develop due to their advantage in maturity and size. That extra playing time adds up and makes them better players, giving them a better chance to get drafted and make the NHL.

By the time you're drafted or in the NHL it doesn't make a difference as you've already beat the odds, and you're getting lots of opportunity to develop. Especially if you're a first round pick like Jankowski.

You wouldn't say that Mitch Wahl (Jan) is a better prospect than Taylor Hall (Nov) just because he's born earlier in the year. (Unless you really have your rose coloured glasses on)

[sureLoss]

Tonight's game at University of Vermont is being streamed for free here:
http://www.nsnsports.net/uvm

Starts at 5pm Calgary time

[kyuss275]

Originally Posted by sureLoss

Tonight's game at University of Vermont is being streamed for free here:
http://www.nsnsports.net/uvm

Starts at 5pm Calgary time

hopefully better stream than the heat games. Like the way the heat are playing but there is no way i will pay the full season price for that quality.

[GreenLantern2814]

Fellow Flame prospect Jon Gilles also between the pipes for this one. Providence is the dark team.

[Ashasx]

Jankowski with a good play to circle around the net and find a lane to the net, no goal though.

The Friars PP needs some work overall, I think.

[GreenLantern2814]

Jankowski just on the PP; skated around the entire offensive zone with the puck before ripping a nice shot from the top of the circle for a nice scoring chance.

[J epworth]

Watching while waiting for my winter tires to get installed. Just 10 minutes in and already convinced this is definitely better hockey than most WHL games, very fast. Saying that Jankowski is looking pretty confident out there, especially that skate around on the power play just now.