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Comment by Dma54rhs | Hacker News Reader

I'm from European country with bad level of hockey and couldn't enjoy watching NHL despite dad loving it. For some reason very difficult for me to follow the puck. Went to see a local game Live, what Canadians would see as total amateur show but it was amazing and easy to follow. You could really feel and see the shots and appreciate the players strength but skills of skating and being elastic/acrobatic at the same time. Still can't get excited seeing it from telly for some reason. But live experience was awesome!

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The more you watch (and probably play) hockey, the less you follow the puck and the more you can infer where it is from body positioning. That's why long time fans like your father can enjoy televised hockey more, while everyone can enjoy live games.

Heh. Brings to mind the Fox Sports 'FoxTrax' [1] which placed a glow on the puck. Hockey fans hated it. I'm not sure if non-hockey fans cared either way.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FoxTrax

Oh no, the glowing dot! But remember this was well before HDTV. Watching hockey on a grainy old TV was not accessible for those who didn’t know the game. However, I don’t think it was successful in bringing in new viewers, and people who were already fans hated it because, well, it sucked.

With the puck tracki technology being reused for advanced stats fans, I wonder if they'll try something similar except make it optional on web broadcasts or will the FoxTrax legacy prevent them from attempting it.

I actually got the feel, now when I think of it I couldn't see the puck flying during the shots. I guess it had something to do with my love for soccer where I can see it curling into top corner. While I appreciated the art of doing the same in hockey, I believe I felt like I couldn't take part of the enjoyment of seeing it flying into the net.

Oh yeah, that never gets better. Tracking a puck going 100mph(160km/hr) on a ~30fps broadcast is basically impossible. Even modern HD doesn't help much.

I think any sport to a novice will seem inaccessible.

For example, many Americans see soccer as slow and boring and are bothered by the low scores and frequent draws. None of those things are a detriment for hundreds of millions of global soccer fans who see the game as fast and exciting (which it is).

All I can tell you is that following the puck is a non-issue to hockey fans. As others mentioned, at some point you just get a feel for what's going on and you'll have no problem figuring out where the puck is and following the action. If you want to be into hockey, invest time and join some hockey communities to learn the 'meta' of the game, and you'll get it.

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