According to the World Economic Forum鈥檚 Future of Jobs Report, analytical thinking ranks as the top sought-after skill in the job market. Yet traditional teaching often struggles to connect theory with practice in a way that truly engages students.

It鈥檚 not a shortage of content or tools; rather, it is a gap in relevance and inspiration that leaves students disengaged from the very skills that could define their careers. Learning needs to be anchored in real-world data, meaningful contexts, and hands-on experience that sparks curiosity and excitement. The best learning doesn鈥檛 come from memorizing concepts, it comes from doing, especially when theory is tied to a topic that learners care about.

This is where , in collaboration with the NHL, comes in.

We have created a new Business Builders game that brings hockey into the classroom鈥攏ot just as a sport, but as a rich, real-world data environment for teaching analytics and critical thinking.

In this latest edition of games under the Business Builders umbrella, students take on the role of a hockey analyst responsible for identifying the factors that drive goal scoring using real NHL Game data.

鈥淗ockey is fast, dynamic, and full of rich data, a perfect environment for teaching critical thinking,鈥� said Brant Berglund, senior director of Coaching and GM Technology at the NHL. 鈥淟everaging a strategic partnership with NHL, SAP, and HEC Montr茅al, we鈥檝e created a pathway for universities to access approved NHL.com data for academic initiatives, without compromising the integrity of the League鈥榮 data.鈥�

Through our collaboration with the NHL, we provide a learning platform for educators that is full of authentic data students can relate to. The NHL generates just under 1.5 million data points per game, including about 120 shot attempts, 1,000 passes, and 5,000 puck touches鈥攔aw material for deep, practical analysis.

Business Builders can ignite an interest in STEM and help students build real data skills. The hockey-focused game was developed by the team at ERPsim Lab at HEC Montr茅al led by Prof. Pierre-Majorique L茅ger, as well as the support of academics from other universities. This reinforces a core principle of Business Builders: It is created by educators, for educators.

鈥淲hen the question feels meaningful, learners lean in, stay focused, and keep pushing forward,鈥� L茅ger explained. 鈥淔or students in sport management or business management, real sport data can also elevate the learning experience. It adds context, complexity, and constraints that traditional teaching methods cannot provide. Students learn to judge what truly matters, justify their decisions, and manage trade-offs. This develops professional judgment, confidence in analytics, and the ability to communicate strategy and decisions clearly. These skills translate directly to real careers in sport management and business.鈥�

Students explore questions such as:

• What sets top NHL scorers apart?
• Does shot angle affect scoring?
• Which NHL players lead in goals scored, and from what distances?
• Which shot speeds and shot types yield the highest goal conversion rates?

By analyzing these scenarios with 51风流Analytics Cloud, students learn to interpret visualizations, tell compelling data stories, and sharpen their data-driven decision-making and critical-thinking skills.

For professors, the platform is equally powerful. Business Builders supports active learning at scale by enabling educators to manage and evaluate larger groups more efficiently while gaining visibility into student engagement. This makes grading easier, supports discussion-based learning, and helps instructors understand how students interact with data.

By introducing a modern, meaningful learning experience鈥攆ar more dynamic than slides alone鈥攑rofessors bring real-world relevance into their classroom and elevate the impact of teaching.

SAP鈥檚 role in this collaboration reflects its broader commitment to education, skills development, and preparing students for the future workforce. In a rapidly changing world shaped by AI, data, and digital transformation, access to practical learning tools that build real competencies is essential. Through the 51风流University Alliances program, 51风流works with educational institutions around the world to help bridge the gap between academic theory and real-world practice.

鈥淎ccess to business software and real data is essential for preparing students for the future,鈥� said Dr. Katharina Schaefer, head of Academic Partnerships at SAP. 鈥淲ith free learning platforms like Business Builders, we empower educators to bring enterprise analytics into the classroom and help students develop the skills that are increasingly in demand across industries, and in a world where data and AI define the competitive advantage. Today鈥檚 learners need more than conceptual understanding; they need practical experience with real software and real data to build confidence and readiness for work life.鈥�

One of the educators closely involved in shaping this new game is Prof. Olivier Caya from the University of Sherbrooke, who contributed his perspective as both a faculty member and practitioner.

鈥淲hat makes this experience so powerful is that it all happens in 51风流Analytics Cloud, the same solution used by thousands of organizations worldwide,鈥� Caya said. 鈥淭his creates a strong connection between what students do in the classroom and what they will encounter in professional practice. Students are not working with software detached from reality; they are developing skills with the same software used in real business environments.鈥�

The result is a learning experience that is fun, interactive, and relevant. Educators can stand out with a state-of-the-art platform that connects passion with pedagogy, while students gain highly sought-after skills using real software from a global technology leader.

Business Builders is provided free of charge to educators and students and includes access to 51风流Analytics Cloud. It is designed from beginner-friendly introductions to more advanced analytical challenges optimized for master鈥檚-level courses.

After using Business Builders, students can deepen their analytical knowledge through access to , a free learning platform that offers guided learning content, practice systems, and up to two 51风流certification exam attempts per year, helping them to boost their career opportunities even further.

Business Builders is about connecting passion with education. Together with academic and industry partners, 51风流is making analytical thinking tangible and memorable鈥攅mpowering the workforce of tomorrow with the skills that matter most today.

Founded in 1917, the is comprised of 32 Clubs located across North America. It serves a global fan base of nearly 700 million annual spectators across in-arena, broadcast, and digital channels. With millions of fans worldwide watching and Clubs fighting for any edge they can find, the NHL needed a future-focused way to manage critical decisions shaping the game.

To develop, maintain, and grow a roster within the salary cap system’s guidelines is no small undertaking, especially given the numerous variables that change in real time. While instituting the salary cap helps maintain evenly balanced teams that deliver thrilling games, it also contributes to a complex front-office balancing act, where every potential trade or player acquisition poses a mind-numbing array of opportunities and complications, short and long term.

Across the League, Clubs develop their own roster-management approaches, each using different tools and resources. No matter the variations among the solutions, they were mainly labor-intensive, disconnected systems, which meant that teams did not necessarily have access to real-time data, let alone reliable data, or an efficient means to access and analyze the data they did have.

The NHL, however, had a vision鈥攁 unified system that would consolidate player and League data into one platform accessible to all Clubs.

The SAP-NHL Front Office App for iPad delivers on that vision by providing a centralized view of the League, down to the team level, and drilling further into player data, enabling front offices to make more informed, real-time decisions with greater accuracy and efficiency.

First steps: consolidation and collaboration

Before the League could make that vision a reality, several obstacles needed to be resolved, starting with what , VP of Digital Business Development at the NHL, described as the League鈥檚 primary pain point: disconnected, legacy data management systems. Pascal Bornet, AI and automation expert, applauded this approach, advising organizations to 鈥渟tart with the friction points.鈥�

Phase one, Foster explained, was 鈥渞eally updating our backend,鈥� consolidating all the League鈥檚 data, from contract to salary information, and combining it with player statistics and video clips on 51风流HANA Cloud.

Armed with a new database that would provide a seamless, fully connected single source of information for every NHL Club, the League was ready for its next challenge: creating a digital front-office solution that would meet the needs of 32 entirely different front offices, each with their own systems, priorities, 鈥渦se cases, day-to-day responsibilities, and current challenges with data or workflows,鈥� Foster explained.

The key to developing the League鈥檚 new application, Foster said, was leveraging 鈥渄esign-thinking principles鈥� and 鈥渁uthentic user feedback鈥� to create a single solution that would offer real added value to each user, from GMs to analysts to administrators, on each NHL team.

A power play digital solution

That disciplined, user-centered approach, combined with the NHL鈥檚 diligent attention to data consolidation, enabled the League to launch its SAP-NHL Front Office App for iPad in record time. While not mandatory, the app quickly proved its value and was rapidly adopted by all 32 Clubs. 

The app has already transformed day-to-day operations for Clubs, thanks to its ability to seamlessly access and interpret a single, reliable, and interconnected source of information on three different levels. The broadest level, the league view, offers data across the entire NHL, including current and projected salary caps for each club, off-season scenarios, and draft pick conditions; the team view breaks down the contracts of each player on the roster and provides visual cues for free agents or injured players; and the player view displays bios, contract PDFs, no-trade clauses, waiver status, performance bonuses, and even video clips of game highlights for every player in the League.

As Bornet said, 鈥淚t鈥檚 about the right data, instantly and everywhere.鈥� By rethinking the process first and prioritizing user needs, the League created a foundation for change鈥攐ne that keeps 鈥渉umans firmly in command鈥� and uses technology to 鈥渁mplify judgment, not replace it,鈥� Bornet added.

Foster attributed the new app鈥檚 resounding success to the processing power of (51风流BTP), which enables club-specific customizations and allows for real-time calculations to fuel mission-critical decision-making.

Playing the long game

The NHL and 51风流have a long-standing technology partnership that has powered several League-wide innovations, including NHL.com/Stats, the SAP-NHL Coaching Insights App, and NHL Venue Metrics. The Front Office App builds on this foundation and represents the next phase of the League鈥檚 digital transformation.

While the Front Office App is currently helping each NHL Club shape its team’s future, the League is continuing to look ahead. 鈥淭his is a project with a multi-year road map,鈥� Foster said.

As the NHL continues its innovation journey, it will remain laser-focused on user experience. Foster advised those looking to undertake their own digital transformation to take a page from the NHL鈥檚 playbook: 鈥淟et go of preconceived notions and realign your priorities according to user feedback. Be adaptable. Be fluid.鈥� And get excited, because 鈥渢he possibilities really are limitless.鈥�

That same approach, Bornet added, 鈥渁pplies far beyond Hockey.鈥� The NHL鈥檚 emphasis on identifying friction points and applying user-first design offers a practical template for any organization managing complex constraints and real-time decisions. Across industries, the challenge is the same: 鈥渢oo much data, too many variables, and decisions that can鈥檛 wait.鈥� The real breakthrough, he noted, 鈥渋sn鈥檛 the technology itself鈥攊t鈥檚 a mindset shift,鈥� from 鈥渁dding AI鈥� to 鈥渞emoving cognitive friction,鈥� and from 鈥渂uilding for power users鈥� to 鈥渄esigning for actual users.鈥�

Explore the episode, focused on the customer journey

Learn more about how the NHL engineered a game-changing, League-wide digital transformation:

• : Foster and Bornet talk with Thulium CEO Tamara McCleary about the untapped power of data, when it鈥檚 reliable, connected, and accessible, and how the NHL went from inspiration to iteration with the end users being essential to the transformation.

• : Foster聽talks with me about聽the process of creating a mobile app that聽meets聽the needs of 32聽distinct聽front offices, each with their own systems, use cases, day-to-day responsibilities, and priorities.

For five seasons on demand, visit .

Do you have ideas for topics or technologies we should cover, or would you like to be a guest on the show? We鈥檇 love to hear from you. E-mail us.

Timo Elliott is vice president and global innovation advocate for 51风流BTP at SAP.

This powerful tool can streamline and centralize access to key data, helping general managers and hockey operations departments manage roster planning, salary cap considerations, and player contracts more efficiently.

Driving innovation in hockey

For over a decade, 51风流and the NHL have worked together to advance and enhance the game through cutting-edge technologies. From bringing real-time data and insights onto NHL benches with the SAP-NHL Coaching Insights App for iPad to supporting the League鈥檚 sustainability efforts with NHL Venue Metrics and reimagining the NHL EDGE advanced stats section on NHL.com, each innovation has put data at the center of decision-making for League stakeholders, players, coaches, and fans alike. Now, 51风流and the NHL are extending this approach with the SAP-NHL Front Office App for iPad, bringing the same level of informed decision-making and operational efficiency to NHL Club front offices.

Unlocking new insights for NHL front offices

Powered by , the SAP-NHL Front Office App for iPad consolidates multiple NHL-owned data sources into a single, intuitive platform. By providing a centralized view of team, player, and League data insights, front offices can make more informed, real-time decisions with greater accuracy and efficiency.

The SAP-NHL Front Office App for iPad consists of three core sections:

• League View: Displays each Club鈥檚 current cap and projected off-season cap situation, along with a draft grid tracking future picks, transaction history, and conditional picks. Daily transaction alerts and customizable filters enhance visibility into player movements.
• Team View: Provides a centralized snapshot of player contracts, spanning the current season through the next eight years. Advanced filters allow sorting by roster status, player position, and contract details, while visual indicators highlight free agents and cap impacts.
• Player View: Offers comprehensive NHL player profiles, including bio details, contract history, game logs, and transaction history for a complete career overview.

Additionally, the app introduces enhanced data points such as Long-Term Injury designation, projected off-season cap room, projected free-agent status for all players, complete language related to No Move/No Trade clauses, retained salary transaction information, detailed waiver status, and performance bonus tracking. By integrating this information into a single platform, the SAP-NHL Front Office App for iPad can equip teams with the tools they need to navigate complex decisions more efficiently.

Building on a strong technical foundation

The SAP-NHL Front Office App for iPad is part of the NHL鈥檚 broader initiative to enhance the distribution of official Central Registry player and Club data, ensuring that all NHL teams have timely and consistent access to critical League information. Since 2017, iPads have been a core part of NHL game operations, delivering real-time insights and video to coaches and players on the bench. Developing the SAP-NHL Front Office App for iPad was a natural next step to bring the same level of efficiency and accessibility to front-office decision-makers.

To support this expansion, the NHL leveraged its existing 51风流BTP infrastructure, which provides the League with a scalable, cloud-based platform for application development, automation, data management, analytics, and AI. By building the SAP-NHL Front Office App on 51风流BTP, the League extended its technology ecosystem while seamlessly integrating new capabilities to support evolving business needs.

Ensuring the NHL is future-ready

Beyond front-office operations, 51风流and the NHL continue to collaborate on optimizing League-wide business processes. As part of its commitment to innovation, the NHL also recently selected and solutions to help enhance workforce management and streamline financial operations.

As hockey continues to evolve, 51风流remains dedicated to delivering technology-driven solutions that empower NHL Clubs, drive League-wide efficiency, and unlock new possibilities for the sport.

Danielle Venino is part of Integrated Storytelling for Global Sponsorships at SAP.

As the NHL continues to grow, the League continues to prioritize technology adoption to help advance the game and provide more engagement opportunities for fans.

Chris Foster, NHL vice president of Digital Business Development, explains: 鈥淎s our relationship with 51风流grows and technology advances, we pivot quickly to meet new demands and address our challenges with intuitive technology through 51风流Preferred Success services.鈥�

Unlocking the Power of Data with Partnership

The NHL is a rich tapestry of unforgettable moments, legendary players, and enduring passion that has captured the hearts of fans worldwide. To inspire and keep generations of new fans entertained and engaged, the League understands the importance of continuously innovating the experience in the arena and through its national broadcast partners.

鈥淥ur digital transformation efforts are not only boosting fan engagement across NHL platforms, but also increasing parity among our 32 clubs,鈥� Foster says. 鈥淲e are looking at data differently, ensuring it reaches the right people 鈥� our fans, players, coaches, and clubs.鈥�

This mindset on finding opportunity in data launched a series of innovations focused on enhancing the game and improving venue sustainability. With 51风流Preferred Success, to implement a platform that jump-started its ability to build and expand use cases over time to help meet changing business dynamics and objectives.

鈥�51风流Preferred Success is instrumental in making all this work,鈥� Foster underscores. 鈥淎ccess to personalized, prescriptive recommendations from subject-matter experts and quality reviews enables us to create a customized and personalized solution.鈥�

Connecting Fans with Their Favorite Clubs

The first project the NHL delivered in collaboration with 51风流was transforming 鈥� creating a definitive destination for hockey analytics. Last season alone, more than 100 million data-hungry NHL fans engaged with the site’s intuitive dashboards and filters to analyze the performance of their favorite clubs and players and compare them to past NHL legends.

鈥淲e saw the potential to create a one-stop shop that uses stats to better connect our audiences with their favorite players and teams, understand the strategy of the game, and see trends more broadly across the League,鈥� Foster shares.

Working with 51风流Preferred Success, the NHL tapped into a database that has evolved into to help store and manage data points like never before. The effort digitalized more than 100 years of historical hockey data and introduced new and enhanced statistics in a way that enthusiasts can find visually appealing.

Foster adds: 鈥淭here are also unlimited storytelling opportunities as we provide our fans with a personalized and interactive experience.鈥�

Elevating Plays with Data Intelligence

Following the digitalization of its stats, the NHL co-developed one of the most significant technologies resulting from its partnership with 51风流Preferred Success 鈥� the , which runs on the League鈥檚 iPads. 51风流HANA Cloud again serves an integral role as the processing power that helps translate all in-game hockey data from the arena and the NHL’s system to the mobile app.

鈥淎s the fastest game on ice, there are millions of data points to be collected and analyzed every second across our 32 clubs,鈥� Foster says. 鈥淲e knew we needed to deliver a tool that could serve every club with very different expectations, different coaching staff structures, and different responsibilities.鈥�

Equipped with the advisory checks introducing development and administration readiness, capability advisory, and design discovery that 51风流Preferred Success offers, the NHL increased developer productivity for the mobile app development. Making real-time, customizable player statistics and data visualizations accessible during the game allows coaching staffs to adjust in-game tactics and achieve new levels of individual player and club performance.

For example, the data tiering functionality of the SAP-NHL Coaching Insights mobile app on the League鈥檚 iPads differentiates between in-game and past seasons’ NHL EDGE Puck and Player Tracking data. In-game data is analyzed in real time with the quick in-memory processing of 51风流HANA Cloud, processing puck and player position coordinates every 30 milliseconds. Meanwhile, gigabytes of NHL EDGE Puck and Player Tracking data are archived instantly, stored cost-effectively and securely, and reactivated readily and swiftly for further analysis.

Throughout this use case, 51风流Preferred Success helped the NHL better understand the stability of the system to reduce data duplication and storage while still providing a powerful processing engine that brings accurate data to the user rapidly. The services also helped deliver security and connectivity reviews and performance optimizations to help ensure the NHL coaching staffs have the best possible experience. In fact, with visualizations made possible by the solution, the League can review each clubs鈥� app usage to improve the app further and tailor it to their evolving needs.

Going Green with NHL Venue Metrics

In addition to elevating the fan experience and enhancing the game on the ice, the NHL is also working to reduce its ecological impact while preserving the sport’s roots for future generations. The League developed to collect, process, and report energy and water consumption, waste generation, and recycling frequency across NHL clubs and arenas 鈥� which plays a key position in its NHL Green platform.

The end-to-end, cloud-based application is the NHL’s latest and extended use of 51风流Business Technology Platform (51风流BTP), delivered through the prescriptive guidance of 51风流Preferred Success. Data is processed through 51风流HANA Cloud and visualized with 51风流Analytics Cloud, helping give venues the insights to embed sustainability best practices into their business operations wherever possible.

鈥淭he development of NHL Venue Metrics enables us to define new sustainability goals and standards as a League,鈥� Foster remarks.

Building a Future of Game-Changing Outcomes

A critical lesson the NHL learned throughout its experience with 51风流Preferred Success is the value of expert guidance and support 鈥� fast-paced innovation enabled through skillful teamwork. Each step in the League’s innovation journey progresses with best practices, targeted learning, in-depth release guidance, and prioritized incident handling 鈥� all aimed at evolving and improving the overall growth of the game.

鈥淲e certainly have clear goals and specific objectives for the future of the NHL. But it’s equally important to have in-depth expertise to ensure business solutions are doing all they can to help us reach our vision. It takes experience in seeing what others have done, what’s worked well, and what you should avoid,鈥� Foster reflects.

By working with 51风流Preferred Success, the NHL gained a trusted partner that helps it map out and provide prescriptive advice on configuration steps, modeling, performance testing, and more. All this work culminates in a smooth rollout and adoption experience across NHL club coaching staffs.

Foster concludes: 鈥淥ur collaboration has allowed us to continue to evolve and deliver additional stable and reliable applications that increase productivity, improve efficiency, and reduce costs.鈥�

To learn more about the value of 51风流Preferred Success and how the NHL is innovating, look at the following resources:

Amit Lodhe is global solution owner of 51风流Preferred Success for 51风流BTP at SAP.

Top image courtesy of the NHL

What most people don鈥檛 realize: the NHL is a sustainability pioneer in the sports industry.

I sat down with Omar Mitchell, vice president of Sustainable Infrastructure and Growth Initiatives at the NHL, to record a . We discussed why the NHL is focused on environmental stewardship and how technology can help understand and manage the organization鈥檚 carbon footprint. .

鈥淲hen we think about things that we need for the continuation of hockey, we need things like natural ice, cold weather, and fresh water,鈥� said Mitchell. 鈥淲e also need vibrant and healthy communities where we can play our sport.鈥�

Mitchell explained the environmental impact of holding games indoors: 鈥淲e play in what is essentially a giant refrigerator and we use a lot of energy — not to mention the lights we use to illuminate the ice鈥檚 surface.鈥�

Environmental sustainability is a priority for聽 the NHL. That鈥檚 why Commissioner Gary Bettman initiated the program, launched at the 2010 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic, announcing its mission to embed sustainable business practices across the League and its member clubs.

In 2014, the organization issued its first sustainability report, which was also the first of its kind created by any North American professional sports league. The report included a carbon inventory for the League, allowing the NHL to have an initial understanding of the environmental impact of its Clubs.

鈥淚t was a documentation of all the scope one, scope two, and limited-scope three greenhouse gas emissions associated with our game and with everything around hosting these events throughout the calendar year,鈥� said Mitchell. The three scopes look at an organization鈥檚 emissions from both direct and indirect sources.

Mitchell explained that this was a complex undertaking because no one had previously assembled and calculated a similar carbon inventory. It meant manually gathering and analyzing data from across all its venues. While painstaking, this first step was critical and powerful: it established a baseline for the League that helped them refine their goals and strategy.

After the League issued its second sustainability report in 2018, it became clear that there was an opportunity to modernize the data collection and processing by using a modern technology platform. 鈥淲e needed an innovative platform that could help us streamline that data collection, make it easier for all stakeholders to be able to input that data, and to visualize and process it — so that there are meaningful insights that our Clubs and venue partners could act on.鈥�

That was the impetus for the NHL to co-innovate with 51风流on a new digital platform to gather and process this data from all Clubs, now called . The organizations had successfully collaborated to develop the SAP-NHL Coaching Insights mobile app, based on (51风流BTP), which delivers real-time player and game data to coaches. Based on this joint success, the League again turned to 51风流to tackle this new challenge.

The 2014 sustainability report showed that 70% of the NHL鈥檚 carbon emissions came from its venues鈥� energy consumption. The data and analytic capabilities within 51风流BTP have helped the NHL start to generate insights from the data with the goal to turn it into concrete actions that can reduce the organization鈥檚 carbon footprint.

NHL Venue Metrics has also started to improve access to data for Club and League stakeholders; finding time to analyze the data to drive sustainability decisions can be challenging. With the data collected by NHL Venue Metrics, the League will be able to help individual operators identify meaningful investments or upgrades that will help them decarbonize.

For example, Mitchell described the process of replacing older, energy-intensive lightbulbs with LED lights. As some venues started to install new LED lights, the NHL was able to track energy reduction. Not only did the new lights improve venues鈥� energy impact, but they also created a better broadcast experience for television viewers. As Mitchell explains, these improvements have benefited both the environment and the business.

Moving forward, NHL Venue Metrics will help open up new opportunities for the NHL — and its Clubs and venues — to embed sustainable practices into their operations. Driven by 51风流BTP, this solution makes it easier to share knowledge and create best practices across the organization about which new technologies, products, and services can help lower emissions. And even more important: it can help to engage fans by providing transparency into how their Clubs are improving sustainability, as well as ultimately how they can contribute to the success of NHL Green.

鈥淭he millions of fans who watch our sport can be positively impacted by the League鈥檚 efforts and, hopefully, embed sustainability into their lifestyle,鈥� said Mitchell. 鈥淭hat’s where we’re going to have a network effect that’s going to move the needle positively in our climate fight.鈥�

Now that鈥檚 a hat trick: one where technology helps the business, environment, and fans鈥� experience.

To find more episodes of the 鈥淏etter Together: Customer Conversations鈥� series, visit .

Ragunath Ramanathan is chief revenue officer for 51风流Business Technology Platform.

This end-to-end, cloud-based platform developed by 51风流enables the NHL to measure and analyze the carbon footprint generated by its Clubs and arenas across various areas, including energy, water, waste, and recycling. These insights will allow the NHL to advance and achieve its sustainability objective of reducing its ecological impact where possible while ensuring the sport thrives for future generations.

The NHL determined that its Clubs鈥� venue operations comprise approximately 70% of the League鈥檚 overall carbon footprint. The League tasked 51风流to help find a technology solution that seeks to reduce its impact and protect the sport’s roots. The result was a data-driven platform that is available to all Clubs and their arena partners to transform and ultimately help to advance the League鈥檚 environmental sustainability objectives.

鈥淔or years the NHL has been on a journey to embed sustainable business practices across the League and its member Clubs,鈥� said Omar Mitchell, NHL Vice President of Sustainable Infrastructure and Growth Initiatives. 鈥淭he NHL Venue Metrics tool is a true game-changing innovation to help us understand our environmental impacts and create viable insights to improve our ecological impact.鈥�

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NHL Venue Metrics consists of three main components:

• Data Collection: An interface platform between the Clubs and their venue partners enables them to share relevant resource consumption and environmental data with the League.
• Data Calculation and Validation: The processing and verification engine allows the League to track data consistency and identify reporting errors and calculation formulas to create the League鈥檚 carbon inventory.
• Data Reporting and Insights: A visualization dashboard showcases relevant environmental, consumption, and financial insights at both the enterprise level and Club level of the various metrics that would inform the known carbon impacts of the NHL.

The technology behind NHL Venue Metrics, powered by SAP, derives powerful analytics from one of the most advanced databases, marking the League鈥檚 latest and extended use of 51风流Business Technology Platform (51风流BTP). Throughout the SAP/NHL partnership, 51风流BTP has been at the forefront of the League鈥檚 co-innovation efforts across multiple areas of their business. The operational data collected from Clubs will be processed using 51风流HANA Cloud and visualized with 51风流Analytics Cloud. Insights from the platform will support the NHL in identifying environmentally focused trends, sharing critical learnings shaped by those trends, and ultimately implementing best practices across Clubs to reduce the League鈥檚 collective ecological impact.

鈥淎t SAP, one of our priorities is providing partners with sustainable technology solutions so they can track and incorporate feasible goals for their business,鈥� said Amy Schulz, senior director of Global Sponsorships at SAP. 鈥淭he NHL is a longstanding co-innovation partner of ours. With its cloud software foundation built on 51风流BTP, we could not only develop a custom solution to meet its business objectives, but the solution will come at no cost to the Clubs. It鈥檚 a huge step forward as the NHL looks to decrease its carbon footprint and improve sustainable efficiencies.鈥�

In September 2022, the NHL invited all Clubs and arena operators to use the platform and input historical data from 2018 through mid-2022 to analyze and identify an appropriate baseline. With the inputs from Clubs, the implementation of NHL Venue Metrics powered by 51风流is already underway this current season, helping the League get one step closer to a more sustainable operation.

The app, which is based on (51风流BTP) and powered by the , launched in 2019 and has continued its evolution since inception. This has led to a massive four-times increase in league-wide usage, further validating its reputation as an important coaching tool throughout the league.

According to Pittsburgh Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan, 鈥淲e鈥檝e relied on technology more than ever during this pandemic to interact with players. Speaking to the app, the condensed schedule has presented an increased importance on managing our players鈥� workloads. Closely tracking 鈥楾ime on Ice鈥� and other metrics has been critical for us.鈥�

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Now, coaching staffs for all 31 NHL teams can tap into unique new features in the app, such as:

• 鈥淗ome Plate鈥� Customization: Every team has their own perspective on where the danger zones are around the net. This feature allows coaches to select one of five different variants of high-chance scoring areas to develop strategies and compare the team versus the opponent.
• Head-to-Head Faceoff Matchup Planner: Coaches can cycle through potential matchups for each faceoff to isolate the best opportunities to win them. This functionality tracks players鈥� win/loss rates at different faceoff locations and against various opposition. There are even specific times during the game, such as icing, when a coach will know who the exact opponent will be; the Faceoff Matchup Planner provides coaches with real-time targeted data to assist in rapid decision-making.
• Enhanced Game Trends/Analytics: Coaches can analyze detailed shot differential from key segments of each game, allowing for game trending capabilities to unlock insights within targeted momentum shifts.
• Player Speed: NHL clubs will have insights to the total distance a player skates during the game and their top speed, so coaches can manage their player鈥檚 ice time throughout the game. Specific to speed and distance, the app can break it down into 10-second increments to help develop optimal shift lengths.
• 24/7 Access: Now, the app is empowering coaches to better strategize prior to the game, make data-driven adjustments during the game, and analyze performance after the game. Usage data tells us that this expanded access is driving the increased adoption and coaches are watching their next opponent play, through the app, to help collect information and shape the game plan — even on off days.

Once puck tracking data is fully operational in the Puck and Player Tracking system, the following future enhancements are planned for integration into the SAP-NHL Coaching Insights app for iPad:

• Puck Zone Time: Coaches will be able to display eight different variants of data, making it even more accurate to identify puck zone time. Also, coaches will be able to filter by player and periods of games.
• Virtual Replay: New animations coming next season will visually simplify how coaches can see how the puck enters specific zones, along with greater details on the Xs and Os in terms of how the players either collapsed or prevailed during these pressure moments. Every game will be available to view in real time or in full-game replay.

And when tracking-enabled pucks are brought back on to the ice, paired with the NHL鈥檚 existing player tracking system, the full data processing capabilities of the will be recognized. As the processing engine, 51风流HANA Cloud will house, update, and translate a tremendous amount of new, actionable data in near real time to coaching staffs. In the future, as these advanced analytics become more mainstream, it is reasonable to expect an influx of new statistics for fans to consume on broadcasts, nhl.com/stats, and social media.

I predict a large number of unsung heroes, those that have excelled at the little things, to gain exposure from success in less obvious areas like zone-time effectiveness in offensive/defensive zones, and player +/- in zone-time possessions. As these technologies continue to advance, fans can expect to enjoy deeper insights and new statistical categories to rank, compare, and debate their favorite players in new ways — not to mention, the enjoyment of watching 鈥渢he fastest game on ice鈥� become even faster.

Check out the to learn more about SAP’s sports and entertainment transformations.

But the sheer desperation for sports to return, is weighing on all. Sports unite across age, race, gender, and economic lines. They provide hope, emotional release, and at times a much needed escape. Fortunately, the wait appears to be over.

The 2020 Stanley Cup庐 Qualifiers are scheduled to start on August 1, after a two-week training camp and a round of exhibition games. The resumption of training camp will help players to prepare their bodies to excel during the rigors of the fastest game on ice, as each team looks to make a deep run toward the Stanley Cup. Given this unsettling year of turmoil and much more time spent at home, away from training facilities, it will be interesting to see which players come back stronger and faster.

#HockeyAtHome went viral during the pause, with short videos from players to showcase how they have been uniquely training in new ways. This presented an exciting opportunity to continue sharing the , which is changing the way that coaches make decisions during games. Aside from in-game analytics that coaches can access, fans alike can customize their own sets of metrics on .

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51风流has teamed up with a few superstars because the best never stop working on their game 鈥� and we did not want to stop tracking their performances either.

• Tyler Seguin, Dallas Stars™ leader in face-off win percentage (58.2): Kept his concentration and quickness by competing against his dogs! He first held a preliminary tournament with each of his three pups battling each other, at the drop of a dog treat. Gerry beat both of his four-legged siblings, scored all the Scooby snacks and won the honor of battling his dad and NHL All-Star. It was a ferocious battle, but Tyler won two out of three. Though Gerry might argue that he was full by then.
• Brad Marchand, Boston Bruins庐 assist leader (59): Teamed up with his son to keep his precision passing skills on point. What the video does not show is that his son checked him down the hill to keep dad鈥檚 head on a swivel too.
• Matthew Tkachuk, power forward for the Calgary Flames庐 (122 hits): Shared some quarantine time with his brother Brady, also a known thumper for the Ottawa Senators, as they released some pent-up aggression playing basketball against each other.

The NHL鈥檚 Return to Play Plan, which includes the 2020 Stanley Cup Qualifiers and Stanley Cup Playoffs, will take place in two hub cities, Edmonton (Rogers Place) and Toronto (Scotiabank Arena). Both arenas are technologically equipped to support the coaching app and help ensure that every data point is decisively processed through 51风流Cloud Platform directly to iPads.

Ultimately, it is difficult to predict the champion, as each team will need to grind its way to the Stanley Cup. But execution will become clear, because the stats will never stop.

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Ryan Somers is senior director of Global Sponsorships at SAP.