[Qbot2640]

And now that I've read the entire thread, I feel qualified to contribute my opinions:

(1) As a huge hockey fan, no-one would be more happy to see a hockey-based game than me - but I don't feel it this year: I predict a departure from overt "sports related" themes this year...hockey was only one of three sports referenced in the hint (and I believe the hint's representation would be more evenly based)...and I cringe to think of the slapshot speeds some of the teams would achieve, and the associated safety concerns. The real focus of the hint is "assists". Also note, there was a First Choice "Hat Trick" comment, but also a "Home Run / Grand Slam" comment...did anyone pick up a similar soccer related comment?

I feel obliged to point out that one poster identified Wayne Gretzky as "the greatest hockey player of all time" - and while he does hold most of the leagues offensive records, Mario Lemieux (the actual greatest player of all time) would have exceeded all of these records if he would have had anywhere near the lineup that Gretzky enjoyed for most of his career...but I digress

(2) Given the idea of "assisting" many posters have jumped to "coopertition". Assists, in the three contexts presented, are "intra-team" where coopertition (in the 2012 application at least) was "inter-alliance". I would predict some amplification of points where multiple robots on the same alliance sequentially possess the game piece.

(2b) I agree that keeping track of passes would be difficult, so what if it is done automatically...some type of team specific sensor, or perhaps each team passes it's "team specific" game piece to another allowing two or three game pieces to be scored simultaneously (a "pass" being represented by an "accumulation".

Just my 2 cents (except the factual Lemieux part).