The world of virtual reality has come a long way in the last decade. Sports like golf, baseball, and racing have seen simulators close the gap between virtual reality and real-life in terms of quality, consistency, and feel. 

Hockey is the latest sport to get in on this via virtual reality (VR). The NHL Sense Arena program was created for use in VR as a tool to help train and develop players without the need of stepping on the ice.  

Overview

The NHL Sense Arena program runs on the Oculus Quest 2 or 3. Users also have the option to purchase mounts for gloves, a blocker, or sticks to ensure pin-point accuracy when using the headset. 

For Players

The NHL Sense Arena program provides users with over 100 drills and in-game scenarios. These are all curated to help improve Hockey IQ, situational awareness, and decision-making. The program will also provide users with instant feedback on their performance and areas they can improve on for next time. 

For Goalies

Goalies can load up this program via the Oculus Quest 2 VR. From there, users have the ability to work on pretty much anything they want – from shoot arounds, to shot specific training, to various drills used to work on technique. There is even functionality where real-life footage is used to show real NHL players skating in and shooting the puck before it’s transferred digitally back into the game (similar to how at a golf simulator, the user hits the ball into the screen and it calculates where the ball goes). 

There is also functionality where goalies can review the virtual shots from the shooters point-of-view and see what they did wrong.

NHL goalies such as Devon Levi (Buffalo Sabres), Joey Daccord, Jonathan Quick and more have started to use this program to help train in the offseason and even between games. 

Virtual Reality, while still in the early stages of development, can be a tool that athletes use to practice and train in the offseason, when they may not have access to a rink or if they just want to train from the comfort of their own home.