On Frozen Blog

Washington Capitals fans in the D.C. metro area are pretty lucky when it comes to seeing the Caps – 41 regular season games at the Phone Booth, and almost every other game available on Comcast or Versus. But what about those supporting the Caps from afar?

Jordan Fabian, a dyed-in-red Caps fan and freelance writer currently at Cornell University, was faced with exactly that dilemma. Jordan knocked around NHL GameCenter Live and determined its pros & cons, and graciously provided his review for publication on OFB.

NHL GameCenter Live
by Jordan Fabian

As hockey fans know, Alexander Ovechkin can be the most entertaining show on television. Unfortunately, fans who happen to be outside of the Washington, DC market can’t watch Ovechkin’s Caps play regularly. This season, the NHL has provided these fans with a much needed fix.

The league’s tech whizzes have created a new online platform called NHL GameCenter Live, which allows hockey fans to see live in-game highlights, player cards, real-time stats, and use a live game tracker.

For a fee, fans can watch high-quality streaming video of a nearly every game played on a given night. The interface, which appears in a web browser, is packed with extra features and information.

HITS:

Overall, the NHL created a very pleasurable viewing experience for out-of-market viewers. The software shows the games in high-quality as advertised. The feed rarely skips during action and if watched at the highest setting (1200 kbps) one could swear he is watching on his set at home. If a viewer uses GameCenter on a solid high-speed internet connection, it won’t force his browser to crash or slow his operating system. Major League Baseball’s comparable service, MLB.tv, has been known to have problems with both video quality and system performance.

Dedicated fans of the game will be impressed with the amount of contests GameCenter broadcasts. Out of 1,230 games played total, GameCenter shows over 1,000, with a decent proportion of games not broadcast simply because they are not shown on local TV telecasts. Use the multi-game view, which allows the viewer to split his screen and watch four games at once; and a computer can transform itself into a veritable hockey mecca.

GameCenter is easy to use and features a sleek black, silver, and grey color scheme. Most of the features are easy to find in click down menus and links lining the border of the video screen. The live stat sheet appears right next to the video screen. The stats update themselves almost immediately after a player lights the lamp or takes a shift. The “gametracker,” which describes each play as it happens, is set right below the screen. It also marks the period and location of every play and highlight for easy viewing after the game.

Along with offering a litany of audio/video features, GameCenter has a live chat forum in which fans can debate the virtues of their respective teams (to put it lightly).

Should a fan want to use the out-of-market video feature, GameCenter costs $119 for a full-season subscription and $23.95 per month. These rates are comparable to MLB.tv ($119.95 and $14.95 respectively). A fan on a budget or one who doesn’t want the video coverage can still listen to live radio coverage (both home and away broadcasts) for free.

MISSES:

One of the “Hits” I mentioned comes with a very important caveat. GameCenter only operates smoothly using a consistently strong high-speed connection. I used the program on both high and low-quality connections, and the difference clearly showed.

Lower-speed connections caused the game to skip because of buffering issues, and the overall speed of my computer slowed as well. A viewer might be forced to reduce the video quality to 700 kbps or even 300 kbps depending on their connection speed. But doing this drastically reduces the pleasure of watching a full game on a computer screen.

Another caveat is that some of the “hits” appealed to hard-core hockey fans. What about the casual fan who might want to watch a game or two while traveling on the road or just his favorite team’s game? By buying a subscription to GameCenter, a fan is forced to purchase video feeds of over 1,000 games, 918 of which he might not want to watch.

The NHL could have distinguished itself from MLB.tv and other similar products by offering an “A La Carte” option or “Team Plan” that could make the product appealing to casual fans as well as die hards.

GameCenter is generally easy to use, but certain settings necessary to operate some extra features are unintuitive. For example, the “Live Stats” mode defaults to ’off’ – what viewer wouldn’t want to take advantage of this feature?  Also, “Live Play-by-Play” must be set to on to see video highlights as well as the gametracker. But this is also defaulted to off.

Two features in particular do not work as advertised. Although GameCenter says that video highlights are available immediately after the first period, in three out of the four games I watched, highlights did not appear until after the game. Also, two out of the four games in which I tried to watch the game using auxiliary camera angles, the video feed did not appear and it caused the program to malfunction.

Finally, a minor side-note for stat geeks: the in-game statistics might be underwhelming. GameCenter shows Goals, Assists, Plus/Minus, and ice time for each skater. But what about other important stats such as hits, giveaways, takeaways, shots and shooting percentage?

THE BIG PICTURE:

Despite the program’s flaws, NHL GameCenter Live remains a great product for fans to watch their favorite teams play. The extra features are unique and its design is easy on the eye of a viewer who has to stare at a computer screen for over two hours. With some tweaks in the off-season, the NHL could have itself a cash cow that appeals to a broad base of hockey fans.