AMESBURY, Mass. – The Hockey East Association and 49ing AG announced today a partnership to launch a first-of-its-kind pilot program bringing AI-powered video and data analytics to college hockey for the 2024-25 season.
49ing’s Hockey AI platform breaks down live game video and delivers real-time video tagging, advanced stats, and AI-powered game analysis that will benefit the league and teams’ hockey operations as well as officiating and player development.
All men’s and women’s programs, coaching staffs, and student-athletes will have access to 49ing’s Hockey AI software when the puck drops later this month. In collaboration with Hockey East, 49ing will also roll-out newly developed AI-powered features over the course of the season to further improve the experience.
“We have been impressed with 49ing’s AI technology and live video analysis that has powered some of Europe’s top professional leagues,” said Steve Metcalf, Hockey East Commissioner. “Hockey East is looking forward to collaborating with 49ing on this innovative pilot project to bring this technology to college hockey for the first time.”
“At Hockey East, we are committed to innovate and invest in technology to elevate our league,” said Brian Smith, Hockey East Associate Commissioner. “49ing’s Hockey AI platform will provide Hockey East with video and data faster and easier than ever before. This partnership will give our teams and league a competitive advantage, while making our officiating programs stronger and more efficient.”
Andreas Hänni, Founder and CEO of 49ing, said, “We are honored to partner with Hockey East. We founded 49ing with a mission to grow the game with technology and data-driven analytics. Hockey is our focus and passion where we support teams and players, but also federations and leagues with tailored solutions to improve their operations and IT ecosystem while helping them take advantage of this new AI era.”
About The Hockey East Association
The Hockey East Association is an 11-team Division I college men’s hockey conference founded in 1984 and a 10-team Division I women’s league which began play in 2002-03. The men’s league has won 10 NCAA championships, most recently in 2021. Since 1999, Hockey East has won eight men’s NCAA Championships with 18 NCAA Championship Game appearances, while placing 31 teams in the Frozen Four and 83 teams in the NCAA Tournament. Overall, Hockey East has sent 127 teams to the men’s NCAA Tournament since its inaugural season, more than any other conference in that span. Hockey East is home to 12 Hobey Baker winners and four Patty Kazmaier winners.
About 49ing AG
49ing is a SportsTech data mining company using computer vision and multimodal AI to automate player tracking from video image and deliver real-time game analysis with advanced stats and natural language video search. 49ing is the official data provider to the National League, Switzerland’s top professional hock- ey league and its software powers development at all levels, professional and amateur, national teams to youth programs. www.49ing.ai
