Nick Whitfield
March 24, 2021
Continuing the Technology Transformation of Ice Hockey Leagues
Waterloo, Ontario and New York, New York. (March 24, 2021)
HockeyTech and Synergy Sports have announced a technology partnership to bring Synergy’s suite of automated production and coaching technologies to ice hockey leagues across North America. The partnership brings powerful technology to the sport of hockey that will change how games are broadcasted and how people in the field of hockey do their jobs.
HockeyTech is a worldwide leader in hockey related technologies. Partnering with leagues and venues globally, HockeyTech live streams thousands of games annually on HockeyTV and offers over 130,000 games to watch on-demand. HockeyTech also enables leagues with live scoring and statistics technology, which integrates with video streams and other digital services, such as websites and mobile apps.
Synergy Sports is an industry leader in automated video capture, production, and distribution for international basketball. Synergy is also the industry leader in analytical technologies for basketball and baseball, analyzing thousands of data points for every game they capture and connecting each data point with video. Synergy coaching technologies have become the source of truth for team preparation and scouting for every team in the NBA, MLB, and most professional leagues internationally in each respective sport. More recently, Synergy has expanded their services to the NHL and other top leagues internationally.
As Synergy considered entering the hockey market, it was critical to find an established partner with a similar sport-first approach. Given the size and quality of HockeyTech’s video database from its HockeyTV channel and the company’s deep relationships with hockey leagues, the partnership was a natural fit. The combination of HockeyTech’s vast portfolio of video rights combined with Synergy’s technologies will usher in more connected video and data driven analytics for the sport of ice hockey. The combined efforts of HockeyTech and Synergy Sports will be to the benefit of all ice hockey clubs, from the NHL and other top leagues across North America down through to youth ice hockey.
When approached by Synergy Sports, HockeyTech instantly saw the value the partnership would provide to leagues and players. As a company with its roots deeply embedded in hockey, HockeyTech was excited to form a partnership that could help players in their partners’ leagues get drafted or recruited and provide easier video analysis and instant replay footage for referees and coaches.
Talking about the partnership benefits, Stu Siegel, HockeyTech CEO said “This partnership will have a significant impact on how technology can be used in ice hockey by improving instant replay abilities, providing coaches with actionable clips, and providing organizations tools to be more efficient. We look forward to continuing the technology transformation of ice hockey leagues.”
With over 100,000 hours of HD game footage recorded every year, and a commitment to expand coverage across more leagues, teams, and venues with Synergy Sports’ automated capture technology, the quality and quantity of video that HockeyTech and Synergy can provide for analysis is a perfect fit.
Discussing the partnership, Synergy Sports CEO, Mark Silver said “Synergy Sports partnering with HockeyTech will provide coaches and scouts with powerful tools that we believe will allow them to do their jobs better and more efficiently than ever before. Synergy Sports and HockeyTech share a lot of values in terms of being sport-first and customer-centric. Combined with an unmatched library of hockey rights, HockeyTech is a natural fit and we’re excited to work closely with the team in driving this forward.”
About HockeyTech
HockeyTech is the worldwide leader in providing hockey-related technologies, analytics, and information services. HockeyTech was founded in 2012 by Stu Siegel, a technology entrepreneur, and former Florida Panthers (NHL) Managing Partner/CEO. HockeyTech has made six company acquisitions to date, integrating, and developing one-of-a-kind hockey-focused tools. HockeyTech’s brands have been Digitally Powering HockeyTM since 1998.
For media inquiries:
Aman Bhogal | Sr. Marketing Manager | abhogal@hockeytech.com
About Synergy Sports
Synergy Sports is a single provider of computer vision and AI-driven live sports production, market-leading data solutions and rights commercialization. Recognized as the dominant global provider of data, analytics and coaching and scouting tools for Basketball, Baseball, and most recently Hockey teams, Synergy Sports partners with all NBA, MLB, GLeague, WNBA and NCAA D1 and D2 Basketball teams. In 2019 Synergy Sports partnered with FIBA to deliver the FIBA Connected Stadium, an ongoing initiative to drive the adoption of high-quality live capture and production to all professional basketball leagues and federations by making cutting-edge automated technology accessible around the globe. Synergy Sports is now looking to replicate the success its products bring to Basketball and Baseball coaches to the world of Ice Hockey. Synergy Sports aspires to improve performance on the ice, create exceptional experiences off it, and deliver commercial opportunities to partners to drive sustainable growth. Synergy Sports is backed by Eldridge and Elysian Park Ventures.
Tom Gray | Sports Partnerships | tom@synergysports.com