Home Records
To see which SHL team has the most significant home ice advantage, I decided to take a look at the home records of the teams from the past 2 seasons. At a first glance, it appears that Hamilton has been the most dominant at home with a record of 43-4-3. The Steelhawks have 5 more wins than the next 2 teams that both have 38 wins. The next 2 dominant teams at home are the Buffalo Stampede and the Los Angeles Panthers. The Panthers have a slightly better record at 38-10-2, while the Stampede have one extra regulation loss for a record of 38-11-1. 

Looking at the bottom teams in terms of records at home. The worst home record in these past 2 seasons goes to the Tampa Bay Barracuda. The Barracuda have a record of 4-44-2, and this was certainly not helped by their 0-25-0 record that they had this past season. The next worst record would go to the Toronto North Stars with a record of 10-37-3 at home. Then, with 7 more wins than the North Stars is the Baltimore Platoon. They boast a record of 17-30-3.


Home, Away, and Total Points Comparison
While looking at the home records gives a basic look at how a team does on home ice, I think a better look would be a comparison between the points scored at home versus away. With this, we notice that the teams with the best home records aren't necessarily more dominant at home than away. For example, Buffalo who had the second best home record is actually scoring less points home than away. Similarly, Toronto who had the second worst home record scores more at home than away. 

Looking at the difference between points at home and points away, it appears that the Texas Renegades have had the biggest impact from home games. They got 33 more points at home than they got away. This is 7 more points at home than away compared to the next 2 best teams. The next 2 teams that scored more points at home than away are the Calgary Dragons and the Minnesota Chiefs. Both teams scored 26 more points at home than away these past 2 seasons. They are closely followed by Winnipeg who scored 25 more points at home than away.

As for the worst teams, the Baltimore Platoons score less at home than away with 7 more points scored away. Then, the only other 2 teams that scored more away than at home are the Buffalo Stampede and the Tampa Bay Barracuda. The Barracuda scored 2 more points away while Buffalo scored 1 more point away in these past 2 seasons. Every other team got more points at home than away which is also an interesting thing to look at.


Toronto the Best Team at Home?
Regardless of all of these stats, I know that Toronto has the best fans at home giving us a significant advantage in all of our games. From the fans cheering on Harry Carpet for seasons, to fans going crazy after a huge hit by Meszaros, The Air Canada Centre is always going crazy giving the North Stars a huge boost. Win or lose, we know that the North Stars fans will always be supporting the team as Toronto is a hockey city. Always has been since the team joined in the very beginning of the league. We can’t wait for the fans to celebrate more as the seasons go on and the team becomes more dominant. Here’s to the fans in Toronto!