About

I’m a data scientist and hockey aficionado living in Minneapolis, MN.  Together with Erik Iverson, I built ShiftChart.com to which I currently devote my time.

I believe that equipped with the right data visualization tools, serious hockey analysts as well as casual fans can interact with game data in an intuitive and rewarding way.

Simple questions (who did Hossa play with?) can quickly be answered, harder questions (what is Todd Richards’ strategy for stopping Crosby?) can be discussed with tangible evidence in hand, and deeper questions—new questions—(how to characterize the coaching styles of Darryl Sutter and Alain Vigneault?) can be born while interacting with visualizations of data.

Analytic background
Prior to ShiftChart, I was a Senior Researcher at Savvysherpa in Brooklyn Center, MN, and a Vice President in quantitative strategies at the Goldman Sachs Group in New York City.  I have a PhD in Statistics from the University of Minnesota and a BA in Applied Mathematics from Harvard College.  My LinkedIn profile is here.

Hockey background
I played junior varsity at Harvard and varsity at the Lawrenceville School in New Jersey.  After college, I played in top men’s leagues in New York City and now in the Twin Cities. Though tournaments have taken me as far as Reykjavik, Stockholm, Helsinki, and Riga, these days I’m concerned with just keeping my spot on my team!

I believe I’m the best hockey player in the state of Minnesota…. of Japanese descent… with a PhD in statistics.  Seeking challengers to this claim.

Sai Okabayashi

You can contact me at: sai [at] shiftchart [dot] com or find me on twitter: @shiftchart.