The NHL and SAP are teaming up to give coaches access, via the iPad, to over 60 different real-time individual and team stats. The iPads will be on the benches so coaches can use them during the game. It's the latest, and one of the coolest, bits of software to come out of Apple and SAP's now years-long partnership.
From the NHL:
"There's a lot of information out there, but coaches are still writing it down on pieces of paper," NHL senior vice president, business development and innovation David Lehanski said. "They're not using it the way that they could use it because there really hasn't been a platform that will allow them to do it easily and efficiently and to quickly customize it to see what they want to see. We're also doing it because we're setting a foundation so that when puck and player tracking is fully live, now we've got the video, the stats and analytics app, and we can start pouring in the data to mesh with it so we have a true real time system."
Also:
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.
The SAP/NHL Coaching Insights App for iPad is set to debut sometime after the league takes its All-Star break.
I know genetic engineering is how a lot of people see (and fear) the future of athletics. But, thanks to technology like the iPad, the SDK, and ARKit, we're also on the verge of data-driven revolution.
It'll be amazing to see where this all goes next.
