The Pittsburgh Penguins have discovered some off-beat local talent.
War-on-ice.com co-creator and Swissvale, Pa., native Sam Ventura has been hired by the hockey club as a consultant to hockey operations, responsible for analytics.
"To have someone who grew up here in Pittsburgh, literally in our backyard, to have the skill set and knowledge base that Sam has, he seemed like the perfect fit," Penguins vice president of hockey operations Jason Karmanos said via Jason Mackey of The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
"There are tremendous opportunities in this game for people like Sam, with that skill set and intelligence. We're really happy to have him on board here."
Ventura, who owns a Ph.D. from Carnegie Mellon University, joins Tyler Dellow, Darryl Metcalf, and the growing list of stats-based entrepreneurs that have been hired by NHL teams.
