“Sports fans have always shouted at the screen and leapt off the couch with the roar of the crowd. Today, watching live sports is an even more active experience because our devices are always within reach.”—“Sports Fan and the Second Screen,” think with Google

Fans are engaging with their favorite sports on mobile devices like never before. It’s quite typical to see someone at home watching a game on TV, checking scores on a tablet and keeping tabs on other games on their smartphone (and somehow, still managing to enjoy a beer and some chicken wings).

The days of waiting for stats to appear in tomorrow’s box score are a quaint reminder of a bygone day—in fact, even taking a walk over to the desktop computer seems old-fashioned. Fans want their information, and they want it now.

Hockey is not immune to this phenomenon—in fact, it’s embracing it, from the professional leagues to the juniors, and HockeyTech is playing a big role.

Additionally, more fans are bringing their mobile device to games—and wide scale upgrades to in-arena Wi-Fi systems means they can follow the action on the ice, and get additional information from mobile apps. Mobile apps increasingly provide a means for leagues, teams and fans to connect—and an important way to keep enthusiastic fans coming back.

iOS 10 is one of the most significant updates to Apple’s operating system for the iPhone and iPad. Meanwhile, Google is keeping pace with advances for Android (and the latest in its candy-based nomenclature, Nougat).

At HockeyTech, both have been keeping us busy with their updates—and we’re very excited to unleash the latest versions of our Mobile Apps for iOS and Android, which embraces the full power and capabilities of both major mobile operating systems—just in time for the start of the regular season.

Mobile Apps from HockeyTech allow us to work with leagues and teams to create a feature-rich mobile experience for their fans. Top leagues such as the AHL and ECHL, major junior leagues and teams throughout North America, and tournament organizers bring the excitement of their games and team on something that’s never more than an arm’s length away from their fans: their mobile devices.

Where are the changes?

At first glance, the biggest change to end-users is a crisp, new user interface, giving it a more modern appearance.

But the big changes are behind the curtain—powering a platform that leverages the capabilities of iOS 10 and Nougat.

We’re particularly excited about two new additions for fans that will be available later this season—push notifications, and in-app streaming video from HockeyTV. These will:

Further Engage Fans – with a comprehensive mobile experience and with real-time stats and scores, push services will be added to the daily scores page. Push services mean that users can see, in the app, updated scores in real time without having to refresh.
Let fans SEE the action, with HockeyTV streaming video right in the app. In the next few weeks, we’ll be adding the ability to stream ice hockey action right from the newly-launched, HockeyTV. The new HockeyTV player will stream video from the world’s largest library of amateur hockey action, without having to leave the app.

And our clients still enjoy the same major benefits of Mobile Apps from HockeyTech, such as:

Push Notifications – Fans can track and follow their “favorite” players and teams for goal by goal updates and game summaries. Teams can push important updates straight to their apps.
Set it and Forget It—Our mobile apps automatically update with content and stats from other HockeyTech solutions—and soon, video from HockeyTV
Comprehensive Distribution through the Apple App Store or GooglePlay (click on the links to see an example for one of our clients’ apps, the recently launched mobile apps for the NAHL).

Written by Cary Moretti, CTO