Imagine if every goal scored in the NHL since 2023 was transformed into a star chart. That’s exactly what Reddit user lograv27 did in their fascinating project. Inspired by the beautiful Map of Github, this project takes information about each goal scored in the NHL and clusters it into celestial objects.
The top level, galaxies, are formed from shot type, shot location, and game state. The second group, clusters, are formed from period, time, and game score. The final layer, solar systems, are formed from a name similarity of goal scorer and goaltender search between goals in that cluster.
The result is an interactive visualization called nhl-cartography, where you can create ‘constellations’ for all goals scored by a player. It even links to the actual video highlights of those goals. There’s also a full free roam mode available, but be warned, it only works well on desktop browsers.
This project is a great example of how data visualization can help us better understand and appreciate complex data. By turning NHL goals into star charts, we can gain new insights into the game and appreciate the beauty of data in a unique way.
If you’re interested in exploring more, you can check out the Github project here. The data source is from the NHL API.
What do you think of this project? Would you like to see more data visualizations like this in the future?