SportsMEDIA Technology, or SMT<\/a>, is headquartered
\nin Durham.<\/p>\nThe company partners with the National Hockey
\nLeague as the official statistics provider.\u00a0<\/p>\n
They provide real-time puck and player tracking,
\npower play clocks, and virtual shot speeds. \u00a0<\/p>\n
SMT also works with arenas around the country on cameras,
\nvideo boards and other fan experience elements.\u00a0<\/p>\n
CEO and founder Gerard J. Hall explained one of
\nthe statistics that has historically been in missing in hockey is who has the
\npuck and for how long.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“With the advent of our algorithms and AI
\ntechnologies, we can infer that if this puck is moving at this speed, and this
\nplayer is moving at that same speed, and they’re moving in conjunction with one
\nanother, we have algorithms that are self-training now that can determine who’s
\nin possession of the puck,\u201d Hall said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
While puck and player tracking makes the game more
\naccessible to fans, it also improves analysis by broadcasters.\u00a0<\/p>\n
SMT\u2019s control room is filled with operators
\nmonitoring the game, suggesting different replays and graphics to NHL
\nproducers.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe instant that puck goes in the net, we’ve
\ndesigned our system so 20 different graphic replays are instantly available,\u201d
\nHall said. \u201cThe system already knows who shot it, who was the goal scorer. The
\ntechnology never gets tired. We’re always tracking the players and the puck.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
SMT can show projections on the ice of where the
\nshots have been, including where goals have been scored.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can see some stories being told just by the
\nway that data is presented,\u201d Hall said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It’s not just the fan and broadcasting experience
\nthat’s improving because of puck and player tracking.\u00a0<\/p>\n
It can also change the play calls by coaches.\u00a0<\/p>\n
“Think of all the different tools that data
\ncan inform for coaches making decisions of, \u2018Which line is performing well, Which
\nline is not performing well, How might I change things dynamically?\u2019 That’s a
\nbig thing in the modern world of sports,\u201d Hall said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tImproving the watch party experience<\/p>\n
While Canes fans enjoyed Games 1 and 2 at home,
\nwith Games 3 and 4 being played in Las Vegas, many flooded into Lenovo Center
\nto watch the matchup surrounded by other fans.<\/p>\n
As the broadcast plays on the jumbotron above the
\nice, fans watching Games 3 and 4 are treated to a unique experience on the ice
\nas well.<\/p>\n
SMT is using internal technology called SPRITES to
\ntransform watch parties.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe created an app that gives us the ability to
\nhave a 2 dimensional view, looking down on the ice, all the players, those
\nlittle circles moving around, and the puck moving as well,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n
SMT is now connecting that app to the lasers at
\nLenovo, projecting on the ice where players and the puck are, a real-time
\nvisualization of game action. <\/p>\n
Hall calls it the ultimate second screen
\nexperience, giving fans a view into a unique part of hockey that the broadcast
\noften doesn’t show: real-time player substitutions.<\/p>\n
“It’s really a powerful thing because television
\nbroadcast generally will follow the puck. They’re kind of obligated to, like
\nwhere’s the puck? Typically in hockey, they dump the puck in the zone while
\nthey’re doing a line change, the camera pans to where the puck is, and what
\npeople don’t see at home is people coming onto the ice,\u201d Hall said.<\/p>\n
The SPRITES technology allows fans to see where
\nthe players are, regardless of what the broadcast is focused on.<\/p>\n
Hall explains the SPRITES technology is so fast\u2014accurate
\nto 70 milliseconds\u2014that it beats the broadcast.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you’re holding the app on your phone, the
\ngame’s being played in Las Vegas, you are getting the data on your phone within
\n70 milliseconds of live. Virtually instantaneous,\u201d Hall explained. \u201cThe trouble
\nis the broadcast goes up to the satellite, down from the satellite, gets
\nprocessed. It’s about 30 seconds behind live. So, we had to delay our
\napplication to put it on the ice to synchronize it with what the watch party’s
\nshowing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The broadcast and the SPRITES will line up for
\nTuesday night\u2019s watch party at Lenovo, and the fans are hoping the Canes\u2019 Game
\n4 performance lines up for them as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Many of the virtual graphics and analytics you see on your screen while watching an NHL game are…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":855877,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[42],"tags":[64,89571,349402,293,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-855876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nhl","tag-business","tag-durham","tag-lenovo-center","tag-nhl","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116722057165050520","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=855876"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/855876\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/855877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=855876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=855876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=855876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}