How the NHL pulled off its new goal simulation animations

In an overtime game against the Philadelphia Flyers recently, Edmonton Oilers star Connor McDavid flew into the zone on a breakaway, shot the puck off the post, recovered it and passed over to a streaking Leon Draisaitl for the winning goal.

Fans could watch a video clip of that goal, but the NHL’s official website offers a different way to process the play: a “goal simulation” animation.

McDavid is a small dark circle with 97 on it, being defended by orange circles with corresponding jersey numbers to the Flyers. The puck is a black speck. One can track Draisaitl’s journey from his own zone to the winning goal — and Travis Sanheim‘s inability to catch up to him — including what happened outside the frame of the television cameras.

Finally, in the cheekiest part of the simulation, a series of quickly multiplying Oilers “dots” appear on the ice, as Edmonton players hop over the boards to celebrate the win and mob Draisaitl.

“People kind of discovered it organically,” said Russ Levine, group vice president of statistics & information for the NHL. “They’re finding unique things or little viral moments, and that has been rewarding. That’s what we hoped fans would discover.”

The “goal simulations” are created through the NHL’s puck- and player-tracking technology, which collects data and tracks the movements of every player on the ice and the puck itself.

“We think it allows you to see a play in a different way. You can see the spacing, player positioning, gaps or lack thereof in a way that’s very stark and different from a broadcast view because it’s two dimensional and straight over the top,” Levine said. “We think it’s a really unique, quick way to review a play and see it in a different light.”

HOCKEY IS A SPORT of constant motion. Levine said this presentation of scoring plays allows fans to see how every part of that offensive chance develops.

“I think we’re always searching for things that will help fans better understand what’s happening on the ice,” he said. “Puck and player tracking is a way to take this very chaotic game — with live substitutions, players hopping on and off the ice and the best players playing a third of the game — and finding new ways to quantify performance or evaluate what happens on a play.”

But the goal simulations also have an old-school charm. Seeing plays develop into digitized shots and passes conjures memories…