Media Releases

New iPhone app could help NHL all-star game

January 25, 2011

TORONTO, ON – As NHLers Eric Staal and Niklas Lid­strom pre­pare to pick their all-star team­mates lat­er this week, a new smart phone appli­ca­tion designed for this very pur­pose is gain­ing trac­tion around the world.

The Team­Choos­er appli­ca­tion – devel­oped by Jonathan Rose, a pro­fes­sor of Elec­tri­cal and Com­put­er Engi­neer­ing at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to and Paul Eisen, a Toron­to-based soft­ware design­er – is designed to pro­duce teams that are even­ly matched. The user enters each player’s name plus the numer­i­cal effec­tive­ness of their abil­i­ty, and the appli­ca­tion cal­cu­lates fair teams.

“Clas­sic meth­ods of choos­ing teams – throw­ing hock­ey sticks onto the ice, draw­ing straws or hav­ing two cap­tains choose play­ers like the NHL is doing with its all-star game – can be a night­mare. Not only do people’s feel­ings get hurt in the process, but you also end up with uneven­ly matched teams and total blow-outs,” says Rose. “With the Team­Choos­er appli­ca­tion, all you have to do is enter a num­ber rep­re­sent­ing each player’s skill lev­el and it will choose fair teams for you.”

The appli­ca­tion – avail­able on the Apple iPhone app store – is pick­ing up steam in recre­ation­al sports leagues in Cana­da and else­where. It has sold in Aus­tralia, Roma­nia, Britain, Ire­land, Nor­way, Japan and the US.

“This is a great tool to con­sult when pick­ing your win­ter sports teams. Since we’ve used it in my pick-up hock­ey league, the games have been far more even and every­one has a lot more fun,” says Rose.

He adds that it could be a handy tool for the NHL all-star cap­tains as they pre­pare to choose their teams this com­ing week­end. “Team­Choos­er would cer­tain­ly help ensure a good, fair game for fans to watch,” he says.

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For more infor­ma­tion, please con­tact:

Jonathan Rose
Depart­ment of Elec­tri­cal and Com­put­er Engi­neer­ing
Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to
Office: 416–978-6992
Home: 416–964-9102
Cell: 416–994-7673
jonathan.rose@utoronto.ca

U of T media rela­tions
416–978-0100
Media.relations@utoronto.ca