Need a pool site that allows flexibility

I posted this in a separate forum and Dobber recommended I start a new thread to garner some feedback. The gist of it is that I feel that most of us use the free pool sites because they're well...free. I've often thought of building my own (I'm a programmer) but its a lot of work and the big challenge is getting access to the game stats (obviously they want to charge for that). So I'm seeking a flexible free format until I can find a way to build a better mouse trap Here is the original post, comments welcome:


i've done Yahoo private H2H leagues the past 2 years with mostly savvy managers but have been pretty disappointed with the format they provide. The stats categories seem flawed to me...we eliminated GWGs after season 1 because it was a bullshit stat (i.e. some goon scores the 2nd goal in a 7-1 rout and gets the point), the goalie stats seem equally bogus. Do you guys have alternate sites you use that you've really liked?

I'd like to try something that allowed me to weight different stats. For instance I think its far more important that your goalie wins 5-4 stopping 46/50 shots than winning 2-1 after facing 18 shots so I'd like a 'quality of win' sort of stat. Also everyone uses PIM as a measure of 'toughness' which is mostly absurd...how important to a team is a goon that plays 3 mins every game but always fights versus a guy that takes no penalties but plays 20 mins and has 12 hits?

Any advice is much appreciated

CBS is a pretty good site.

mister mcgoo, i liked you the first time i saw one of your posts because of your name, but i am now blown away by how exactly perfect that question agrees with everthing i believe in.

i could go on and on about it, but its late and im tired. regardless, i do use a yahoo points system with custom values... G(1), A(.5), SHG(1.5), PPG (.7), +/-(.1), PIM (-.05)

and for goalies, SHA(.06), MINS(.01), GA(-.6)

not sure if its the right way, and i'm sure it can be improved. the standard roto/h2h formats that they offer really grind me though. i wish that hits, takeaways, and blocked shots were categories instead of PIMs.

I'm not aware of any ''freebie'' sites that can track head to head fantasy point style(assign particular # for particular stats)for nhl

Yahoo only offers this for nfl /football


option 1
-find a freebie site that allows you to assign point values for certain stats (whatever your scoring formula is )

-create a message board or free website for your league members to visit

-create your own head to head schedule and post it on the message board

-once season starts --use the stat results from freebie stat server to gain results for your head to head matchups

-post results of h2h matchups and current standings on the message board

option 2

pay 100 bucks and use cbs or stay tuned for what hockeyknight.com has to offer

you do realize however that yahoo does allow you to set up a non h2h league and assign point values for individual stats right ?

thanx for the posts guys, I was actually not aware that Yahoo let you assign point values in non-H2H leagues. The problem is that I really otherwise like the H2H formula...the idea of having to work your whole bench really forces you to keep abreast of alot more hockey (i.e. who has the flu, whos been moved up to the first or second line, who's on the #1 PP now, who's been demoted, etc). I realize you can get alot of this in other formats too but I just find H2H is the most competitive format, especially when you're in a tight weekly matchup and agonizing over who to start on Saturday night (when it comes down to analyzing how each member of your team has performed historically against their opponents, thats when you know you're obsessed ...its also more realistic because just like the NHL, sometimes the crappy team beats the best team because either the better team has an off week or the crap team has a stellar week. Our league this year was really tight and it made for an exciting run to the playoffs.

ultrawhiteness, i liked the weighting you proposed, that sounds far closer to what I'm trying to setup. And a couple of you mentioned CBS...do they offer H2H weighted stats? For $100 they damn well better...the problem with a pay league is that when you're in a league where the buy-in is $20-25 for 10-12 managers that takes out a big chunk of the pot.

I'm serious about building my own, I'd probably charge $5 a head for the season to offset expenses so it would be far more affordable than anything else I've looked at. The challenge is getting access to the stats...obviously these aren't made freely available and unless you're an ESPN or a Yahoo, getting a feed of them is prohibitively expensive. Granted I could 'steal' some of this based off boxscores but that won't help me with adding interesting categories like hits or face off wins, etc.

you would really enjoy cbs magoo --they do indeed offer weighted stats

by the way -I emailed one of their programmers mid season and they are pushing to get hits and blocked shots added to their menu

I dont like paying 100 bucks either but their setup saves me alot of admin time that I would otherwise have to spend if I used a free site.

fantasy hockey is pretty much my only hobby -so 100 bucks divided by 365 days is pretty cheap compared to other hobbies

sounds like you have a good crew of gm's who would probably enjoy cbs and wouldnt mind chippin in

I've been running a roto pool with a farm team on Yahoo, which has been OK, but it definitely has its drawbacks. If you develop pool software that can track roto stats, and leave provision for a farm team you would have a lot of customers...

Keep us informed!

you guys have inspired me to start researching the viability of actually building such a site again and after digging around a bit today I think I might actually be onto something. Let me take a quick poll to get an idea what people are looking for.

1)In addition to the standard stats categories I'd like to add hits, blocked shots, faceoff % and maybe something with PK effectiveness. Any OTHER stats you'd really like to see tracked?

2)Obviously I'd make all scoring configurable and weightable but beyond H2H, Roto and Fantasy Pts scoring formats, are there any other you'd like to see?

3)on a scale of 1-10 how important are the following to you as a poolster:

-live drafts
-multi-position eligibility (i.e. C/LW)
-live real-time stats
-stats updated every 24 hours
-trade veto voting

thx

1) take-aways, if possible.

2) not that i can think of. i agree with you that the h2h system is the most competitive and fun.

3) life drafts - meh.. i can do these at another site or myself. 2
multi-positions - 7... important, but a pain to implement.
live real-time stats - 0, i don't spend the small charge for yahoo's anyway.
stats every 24 hours - 10, necessary for a pool to keep everyone updated.
trade veto voting - 10, yeah, people need their democracy

i have an excel macro that you might find interesting mcgoo. it has a scedule of ~ 3 games/week vs different opponents, using essentially the same point system i described above. send me an email at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it and i can send it to you if you're interested.

for stats, i used a site called sportsinteravice.com to get mine... i think it was ~$50 for the year. downside is that the reports i got were only every 7 days.

anyway, i love the idea and i'll offer any help i can. i am no programmer, though, and know sweet f* all about web design.

In response to the poll:

1- I like takeaways, but I like takeaways minus giveaways more.

2- The league I run has several scoring periods per season, but not at weekly intervals. Customizable "stats reset" dates would be very useful.

3- live drafts: 6 - not a big deal to me, but I think they are for some people
multi-position eligibility: 7 - would just prefer they never change during the season
real-time stats: 5 - next morning is okay for me, but if it were easy this would be pretty sweet
stats every 24 hrs: 10 - some people don't pay attention if they have to remember to check "in a couple days"
trade veto voting: 10 - should be optional, but a must for some pools

I love that someone's actually asking these questions, rather than just assuring us the next model will be better.