Best Snow Day Ever: NESN, Bruins Roll Out NHL's Latest Animated Data-Visualization Altcast With a STEM Twist On-ice data will be used to produce science-, tech-, engineering-, and math-focused segments By Jason Dachman, Editorial Director, U.S. Tuesday, March 11, 2025 - 3:30 pm
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Waking up on a cold winter morning and hearing the words snow day are music to any New England kid's ears. Tonight, the Boston Bruins, NESN, and the NHL are looking to bring that excitement to the Best Snow Day Ever, the latest animated data visualization in the NHL HOCKEYVERSE world. The Bruins-Panthers animated altcast, which airs tonight at 7 p.m. locally on NESN+ and the NESN 360 app, will take kids on an imaginary snow day off from school, following Blades, the Bruins' mascot, on an adventure as he's transported into a snow globe of an imaginary Boston.
All photos courtesy of NHL
We know that, in the ever-changing marketplace of sports-media content, especially within regional sports networks, there is a need to solidify the engagement and the expand our reach for younger fans, says Josh Jun, VP, content, NESN. Rarely do you have an opportunity like this: both the league and the team partner are fully committed to an innovative and fresh [concept] that also allows you to flex some of the creative muscles that you don't necessarily get to use very often within the traditional broadcast landscape. We couldn't be more excited.
Best Snow Day Ever is the first of four regional animated altcasts that the league has planned for the remainder of the season (along with a variety of other NHL HOCKEYVERSE activations), but NESN is looking to differentiate its coverage by mixing in STEM-focused lessons that use hockey as a vehicle to teach math, physics, and science concepts.
A big priority for the Bruins right from the start was to make it educational and STEM-focused so we jumped on board with that right away, says Jun. The thought was, even though you're missing school and watching the game, you still need to do your homework for the next day when you're back at school. In terms of that overall concept, we hit the mark very well.
From NYC to Watertown: NHL, NESN Team Up on Split Production Workflow As has been the case in the league's previous animated-data visualization efforts, the NESN altcast will be driven by Sony's Beyond Sports technology platform, NHL EDGE Positional Data (provided by SMT), and Sony's Hawk-Eye Innovations optical tracking.
The animated game feed will be produced by the NHL out of the league's studios in New York City. NESN reporter Adam Pellerin will call play-by-play and former Bruin Andrew Ference provide analysis via Apple Vision Pro headsets. NHL Studios VP/Coordinating Director Matt Celli and his team produce the show using nearly 60 virtual cameras available in the Beyond Sports platform.
Intermission content is being produced by the NESN original-content team and will emanate from the RSN's Watertown, MA, studios. NESN's original-content team collaborated closely with the Bruins marketing and comms teams and with league partner GameDay Creative to develop the Best Snow Day Ever on-air product.
We are providing our [on-air] talent and our creative to the league for the game action, says Jun. That will all be done in New York City by Matt Celli and his team, who are phenomenal and have a lot of experience in creating these [altcasts]. The intermissions are essentially our sandbox to play around in.
Building a STEMcast: Creating a Broadcast That Is Both Fun and Educational Justine Pouravelis, director, original content, NESN (and the network's lead on the project), and Fred Nutter, manager, long-form content, spearheaded development of the Best Snow Day Ever concept and led production of the variety of elements that fans will see during intermissions.
The genesis of the idea came from a member of our original-content team, notes Jun, but it was truly a team effort with the Bruins and the league. We knew we had to operate within the NHL's HOCKEYVERSE theme, but we also wanted to bring some wild and crazy ideas into this environment because the possibilities that animation provides you are endless.
In addition to the STEM lessons, the animated data visualization will feature intermission content in which Bruins players will participate in interactive segments designed to make learning fun. For example, one segment will focus on the freezing temperature of the ice and what the playing surface is actually made of (hint: it's a lot more than just water).
Viewers will also experience a Boston-centric narrative showcasing local landmarks, history, and culture and highlighting STEM lessons that tie back to the on-ice action between the Bruins and Panthers.
I'm excited about the fact that we're the first to add an educational element to this [animated-altcast] format, says Jun. Since this is an animated-data-visualization project, there is so much data that we can utilize for those elements, such as the speed of the player or the speed of the puck. We have all this information, so it's up to us to translate that data into compelling STEM lessons in the broadcast.
Jun adds that NESN is targeting a slightly older demographic compared with the NHL's previous animated altcasts, such as the Big City Green Classics in 2023 and 2024.
Where Big City Greens was targeting a very younger audience, he explains, we are targeting more of the late-grammar-school and early-middle-school crowd. We also wanted to make it so that, whether you're a parent or a child, you take something interesting away from it.
Serving younger audiences is nothing new for the Bruins and NESN, both of whom have ongoing commitments to engage with and educat
