New iPad app will give NHL coaches real-time stats during games

“NHL coaches will soon have access to more than 60 different real-time individual and team statistics on iPads positioned on the bench during games through an app developed by the League, SAP and Apple,” Dan Rosen writes for the National Hockey League. “The SAP/NHL Coaching Insights App for iPad will serve as a complement to the three iPads already on the bench that provide coaches with real-time video. The app is expected to debut League-wide after the All-Star break. [The NHL All-Star Game will be played on Saturday, January 26th.]
“The app is designed for coaches only. There will be one iPad Pro on the bench at every game and one for every video coach in the NHL. The iPad Pros, which will put the real-time information at coaches’ fingertips thanks to its easy-to-use multi-touch interface and portability, will be managed and stored by the League, but each team will have its own account and the NHL will not have access to the customization of the stats by each team,” Rosen writes. “The SAP technology, specifically SAP Cloud Platform with SAP HANA, plays an integral role as the processing power that translates all in-game hockey data from the arena and the NHL’s system to the app. ‘It’s all about the coaches, and it’s really the assistant coaches who are giving information to the head coach,’ NHL director of digital business development Chris Foster said. ‘Specifically, it’s the coaches on the headset talking to the video room who are then giving the information to the head coach.'”
NHL/SAP app for Apple iPad Pro to debut League-wide after All-Star break
 
“On the app, face-offs are broken down by success rate per zone and side of the ice, against specific players and a color-coded visual graphic for how a player has done in his past five face-offs. For time on ice, there is a customizable threshold coaches can input for each player, essentially the amount of minutes he is expected to play in that particular game. If a player goes over the expected minutes, the graphic turns red so coaches can quickly see that information,” Rosen writes. “The app is customizable for coaches to give priority to the team and player stats they feel they need most. A deeper dive into the app will give the coaches access to an array of team and player statistics, including shot attempts, unblocked shot attempts, chances for and against, and success rate on shootouts with forehanded shots and backhanded shots, a potentially useful tool for goalies too.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Obviously, the NHL makes smarter technology choices for its coaches than the NFL.
Without Microsoft paying off the NFL every year to the tune on hundreds of million of dollars, nobody outside of Redmond would have a Surface tablet.
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