Lightning to take live game programming to a virtual ‘Hockey Paradise'

Yahoo

27-03-2025

TAMPA – For all the hard work the Lightning have done to grow hockey around Tampa Bay, especially among kids, what they'll do to reach new fans Saturday afternoon will introduce them to a whole new world.
A virtual, animated world.
The Lightning, along with the NHL, will produce a real-time, animated broadcast of the 2 p.m. game against the Islanders, programming they are calling 'Hockey Paradise.' It will be broadcast via the Lightning app, team website and NHL.com.
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Using advances in the league's puck- and player-tracking technology, they will create a real-time simulation of the game on a virtual floating rink in the shadow of palm trees. Jet Skis, speedboats and cruise ships will pass by, ice conditions will not be a concern and players will be sent to a penalty box reminiscent of a desert island.
'This is an extension of just a general approach to get younger kids, whether they can barely walk or even into their teenage years, to think about the sport of hockey,' said Lightning chief marketing officer Matt Corey. 'It's not about getting them to play but learn about it and enjoy it, because people who don't experience hockey, they don't understand how fast the game is, how amazing these athletes are and how fun it is.'
In many ways, the Lightning's animated game will pay homage to Tampa Bay. The backdrop will include animated versions of area landmarks such as the Sunshine Skyway Bridge, St. Pete Pier, Jose Gasparilla pirate ship, roller coasters to represent Busch Gardens, the iconic white balustrade along Bayshore Boulevard, a downtown Tampa backdrop and an animated version of Amalie Arena. During breaks in play, a storyline will be intertwined with Lightning mascot ThunderBug exploring the area.
'We've been collaborating with the NHL for months to design this world,' Corey said. 'You've got all these little Easter eggs all in the environment. It's going to be a fun, different way to show off our city.'
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More than a decade ago, the NHL built a system to track puck and player movement. It captured vast amounts of data to create new statistics, analytics and metrics to incorporate into live broadcasts, such as a player's skating and shot speed. Since then, the league has used the data to create its NHL Edge stat system.
But that was only the beginning of creating an animated game. The league began working with Sony's Beyond Sports to see how players and the puck could be tracked on a three-dimensional, virtual rink.
'Admittedly, nobody was, including us, thinking about how we could take that data and turn it into basically a cartoon version of the hockey game, because we didn't know the technology existed,' said Dave Lehanski, the NHL's executive vice president for business development and innovation.
'As the game was being played, instead of looking at the data as blips and dots and zeros and ones, they would visualize the data and we would look at it sort of play out on a virtual rink. ... We reached out to sort of use this technology for validation. But once we saw that we were like, wait a second, this is kind of cool. Like, could we turn this into an actual experience? Could we display this and let people watch this? Could we turn the little sprites for the players into actual avatars?"
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Two years ago, Beyond Sports helped the NHL produce its first full-length animated game, the Big City Greens Classic between the Rangers and Capitals, which streamed live on ESPN+. Last year, the league installed 12-14 cameras in every arena to track the skeletal positions and stick positions of players to complement their existing data and create more realistic movement.
After the Blackhawks had the first local animated game last season, the league looked this season to test the programming in other local markets. The Lightning, one of 20 teams to show interest, were among four to get their own game. The Bruins had a STEM-themed animated game broadcast earlier this month. The Predators (April 1) and Flames (April 13) have animated games scheduled for next month.
Where the NHL goes from here is uncertain, but Lehanski said the league is pleased with numbers that show increased viewership among younger and female viewers. Nor have the animated broadcasts negatively impacted the regular local broadcasts. (The Lightning's animated game will have a different crew — former Lightning defenseman Braydon Coburn and NHL junior reporter Wyatt Ross — from the FanDuel Sports Sun broadcast.) Other animated game forms — highlight videos or condensed games — also could result.
'That's why we're experimenting with a lot of these different elements,' said Casey Hall, the NHL's executive vice president for marketing and innovation. 'It's probably just a little too early to know exactly where this is all gonna lead us and, quite honestly, where the fans (lead us). That's what we need to test the market from is, what is going to appeal to the fans and what type of game presentation do they want and enjoy.'
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The Lightning's animated broadcast will coincide with Kids Day Saturday at Amalie Arena. But even without tickets to the game, the Lightning are inviting families to Thunder Alley to watch the animated broadcast on an LED screen for free.
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