{"id":548387,"date":"2026-04-09T01:15:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T01:15:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/548387\/"},"modified":"2026-04-09T01:15:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T01:15:51","slug":"nhl-opens-verizon-backed-innovation-lab-for-hockey-rd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/548387\/","title":{"rendered":"NHL opens Verizon-backed Innovation Lab for hockey R&D"},"content":{"rendered":"

NEWARK, N.J. \u2014 When Jack Hughes and the New Jersey Devils practice, they aren\u2019t the only ones preparing for an NHL game there.<\/p>\n

The Prudential Center\u2019s practice rink is now a training facility for new league ideas and technologies, as part of the newly opened NHL Innovation Lab powered by Verizon.<\/p>\n

There is a dedicated working office space that houses Verizon servers and a 12-foot high-resolution LED display that was designed by KSS Architects and built by the Phelps Construction Group. But much of the work will take place on the practice ice and game rink, connected via Verizon\u2019s private 5G network.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really able to go and stretch the art of the possible, both in the coverage of our game but also how we officiate it,\u201d said Grant Nodine, NHL SVP of technology. \u201cAnd then we can make sure that we are really dialed in on how we\u2019re going to operationally support these new technologies in the field.\u201d<\/p>\n

SBJ first shared news of the Innovation Lab<\/a> a year ago, and last week marked its grand opening, with partners and execs, including Sean Williams, NHL VP of innovation-technology partnerships; Evin Dobson, NHL SVP of U.S, partnership marketing; Brian Gorney, senior director of U.S. pro sports, Verizon Business Group; Sasha Puric, HBSE CTO; as well as media \u2014 SBJ included \u2014 invited for an open house, arena tour and champagne toast. <\/p>\n

\"(l-r)(l-r) Verizon\u2019s Jake Kornblatt and the NHL\u2019s John Frantzeskakis, Grant Nodine and Sean Williams discuss the vision for the Innovation Lab. Joe Lemire <\/p>\n

Nodine described the Innovation Lab as a \u201cprototype environment\u201d designed to accelerate progress and iterations of new ideas that are otherwise hard to test.<\/p>\n

In addition to the backend networking, opening the Innovation Lab included the installation of a Sony Hawk-Eye tracking system in the practice rink to creative a test environment for data collection.<\/p>\n

John Frantzeskakis, NHL SVP of arena\/game technology and operations, walked SBJ through a few R&D ideas being tested:<\/p>\n

High sticking: Hockey players cannot raise their sticks above shoulder height to deflect the puck to a teammate. This is an area identified by NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman<\/a> where Hawk-Eye cameras might be able to help automate the decision.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur goal is to bring high stick detection by the start of next season,\u201d Frantzeskakis said. \u201cThat is an ambitious goal that we\u2019re trying to get to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Timing and lighting: While officials now wear Apple Watches synced with the game clock and other notifications, players and coaches don\u2019t have access to ice-level time reminders. The practice rink includes two configurations of the clock being built into the boards at either end, plus the possibility of LED lights signaling certain colors for end of period, coach\u2019s challenge and more.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can imagine now, the game\u2019s about to end, I\u2019m down 2-1, and all of a sudden I don\u2019t know how much time I have left \u2014 I have to look up,\u201d Frantzeskakis said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want that, right? We want to have a visual right in the corners.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe NHL is testing clock placement in the boards at the Devils\u2019 practice rink. Joe Lemire <\/p>\n

Communications: The NHL is exploring ways for referees to communicate with the Situation Room in Toronto or even with each other across the ice through mics and earpieces. An exact implementation isn\u2019t settled. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know,\u201d he said. \u201cOur focus right now is, can we get the tech to work that way if we needed to?\u201d<\/p>\n

Tracking data integrations: The Edmonton Oilers last year asked to pair the NHL Edge tracking data with their lighting system so, for example, the spotlight can automatically follow a player who just scored a goal. That\u2019s just one possible integration that the lab can test.<\/p>\n

Immersive highlights: With Cosm\u2019s C360 cameras<\/a> in every arena providing 10.5K resolution, the NHL is looking into ways of using that content for personalized fan experiences.<\/p>\n

As for why the Prudential Center was chosen, it is a modern building in close proximity to the NHL office in NYC and is one of only four arenas with the practice rink attached. The same networking infrastructure can power use cases early in the process on the practice rink and later in the testing protocols on the game ice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you think about applications that require high reliability, low latency, maximum security, the network\u2019s able to complete all those functions all the way throughout,\u201d said Jake Kornblatt, Verizon Business Group VP.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"NEWARK, N.J. \u2014 When Jack Hughes and the New Jersey Devils practice, they aren\u2019t the only ones preparing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":548388,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[5,4,13329,31266],"class_list":{"0":"post-548387","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nhl","8":"tag-hockey","9":"tag-nhl","10":"tag-prudential-center","11":"tag-verizon"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nhl\/116372111680665872","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548387","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=548387"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/548387\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/548388"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=548387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=548387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nhl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=548387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}