Issue link: https://read.uberflip.com/i/1547516
HOCKEY TECHNOLOGY CHANGING THE GAME IT'S NO SECRET THAT TECHNOLOGY HAS CHANGED THE WAY WE PLAY, PRACTICE, COACH, WATCH AND EXPERIENCE SPORTS. In a sport as fast-moving as hockey, the naked eye can only capture so much. Advancements in technology have truly changed the game by illuminating the things we can't see. Technology has impacted all corners of the rink – from skates, sticks and smart pucks, to digital dasherboards and broadcast graphics, to AI video analysis and advanced analytics such as Corsi and Fenwick. Some of the latest innovations have come in wearable training, performance and health-related tech products. "Technology helps us see subtle things that are harder to quantify and verbalize, and allows us measure and compare them," said Dr. Stephen McGregor, Ph.D. and founder of Sport Performance Technologies, makers of Achieve, a data management and visualization platform that turns wearable sensor data into insights that help players and teams perform at their best. "From a training standpoint, hockey is unique because skating isn't a part of any other major team sport. You also have the intricate nature of shift changes. So, hockey is a hard sport to quantify. Technology has gotten better at helping us quantify performance and at both the gross and granular levels. If you can quantify it, you can measure it and then you can train it and improve it." Optimizing performance in hockey without sacrificing development has been an ongoing challenge for teams regardless of level. According to Dr. McGregor, whose company has worked with teams like the Buffalo Sabres, Minnesota State University, numerous USHL and CHL teams as well as the USA Hockey National Team Development Program, technology allows us to optimize both. Wearable technology is one of those areas revolutionizing the game, particularly if it offers real-time data on player performance and health and can translate that raw data into actionable insights that a hockey coach or player can actually understand and use. The newest product from the Achieve team is a skating sensor that does all of those things, and then some. "The simplest metric we have is a load metric we call DTL, which represents how much work a player did, tracks roughly with ice time," said Dr. McGregor. "Another metric we look at is intensity, which helps quantify the overall intensity of a practice. There are a number of different ways to use the data. If you wanted a practice to push your team, but the numbers show it didn't, then something didn't go right. If the object was to have a lighter practice but the numbers showed it was much harder, then maybe tomorrow you make an easier day. You can then choose the intensity levels that make sense for your team, and those will look very different for a Squirt team versus a college team." Another area now being quantified is skating dynamics, including the tracking of a skater's movement, power and technique. "It might be that you're a powerful skater but that hasn't necessarily translated into speed," Dr. McGregor said. "Once you have the data, you can start to think about the mechanics you need to work on to turn the power you produce into skating speed. We can get very granular. Let's say you're a good skater, have good edges, but you're not an explosive skater or particularly fast. The technology can help identify what is missing." Predictive modeling is another area that has proven to be extremely helpful for hockey coaching staffs, particularly in the area of load management. Wearable technology can measure and quantify that load and then predict into the future, if a player or team maintains the same rate, it may be too much over time and they'll be less sharp later in the season. "What's really becoming transformative is that many of the tools that were only available at the professional or DI level are now trickling down and can be used at youth levels," said Dr. McGregor. "If you think back 15 years ago, teams didn't use video, they didn't have advanced stats, and now everybody does. You're now getting this technology that is roughly the same price as a hockey stick and can help you vastly improve your game." By Steve Mann