Ice hockey league NHL uses Apple Watch with referees

Apple regularly receives praise for the very great accuracy of its sports sensors in the Apple Watch – even if the computer clock is not intended for professional athletes. Nevertheless, the second professional league of a sport has now decided to use the watch in competitions: According to the World Surf League in 2023, the US ice hockey league NHL is now also participating. This is reported by the IT blog The Verge.

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Haptic information about game courses

According to the information, however, the players do not get themselves but the referees (Referees) the computer clocks. A specially developed application called NHL Watch Comms should help to keep it up to date with current data during a game. This includes that the app shows the current season that there are haptic notifications when a player leaves the penalty box after a foul or when a game period was soon ended. The timers even receive different haptic announcements, so that the referees do not have to look at their watch.

The clocks come directly from the NHL, so they do not have to be purchased by the referees. It is current models: Either an Apple Watch Ultra (2) or an Apple Watch Series 10. The computer clocks are also clinked into the so-called Oasis feed, a cloud system that contains the monitoring of game acts, game steer and other information on individual players. All referees should be up to date.

It's about “Situational Awareness”

The NHL has been using Apple technology for several years, iPads have been used in the game since 2017, as well as Macs. These also use the individual teams for the analysis of games directly on site. “We wanted to make sure that the officials are really well informed and that the game can keep an eye on,” says Andres de Corral from Presidio, the company that developed the watchos app.

The haptic feedback helps to keep the referees in the game. The aim is that there is always a “situation as aware” – particularly important in such a fast game. So the referees can rarely look at the clock – just as little as the video display with the season.