Goals against average (GAA) also known as "average goals against" or "AGA" is a statistic used in

field hockey Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ...

ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice ...

, lacrosse, soccer, and water polo that is the mean of goals allowed per game by a

goaltender In ice hockey, the goaltender (commonly referred to as the goalie) is the player responsible for preventing the hockey puck from entering their team's net, thus preventing the opposing team from scoring. The goaltender mostly plays in or near ...

or goalkeeper (depending on sport). GAA is analogous to a

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding t ...

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or dr ...

's earned run average (ERA). In Japanese, the same translation (防御率) is used for both GAA and ERA, because of this. For ice hockey, the goals against average statistic is the number of goals a goaltender allows per 60 minutes of playing time. It is calculated by taking the number of goals against, multiply that by 60 (minutes) and then dividing by the number of minutes played. The modification is used by the NHL since 1965 and the IIHF since 1990. When calculating GAA, overtime goals and time on ice are included, whereas empty net and shootout goals are not. It is typically given to two decimal places. The top goaltenders in the

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...

have a GAA of about 1.85-2.10, although the measure of a good GAA changes as different playing styles come and go. The top goaltenders in the National Lacrosse League however, have a GAA of about 10.00, and the top 2005 Western Lacrosse Association goaltenders had a GAA of about 9.00. At their best, elite NCAA water polo goalies have a GAA between 3.00 and 5.00. Since the statistic is highly dependent on the team playing in front of a goalie,

save percentage Save percentage (often known by such symbols as SV%, SVS%, SVP, PCT) is a statistic in various goal-scoring sports that track saves as a statistic. In ice hockey and lacrosse, it is a statistic that represents the percentage of shots on goa ...

is usually considered a more accurate measure of a goaltender's skill, especially in ice hockey and lacrosse, as it takes into account the number of shots the goaltender has faced. In soccer, since it is considered a part of the goalkeeper's job to coach defenders on proper positioning to prevent opponents' shots, GAA is more commonly used to evaluate goalkeepers than save percentage.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Goals Against Average Ice hockey statistics