Wired News reports that the San Jose Sharks of the National Hockey League are the first U.S. professional sports team to use digital video technology on the players’ bench during official games. The Sharks are using XOSketch, a Tablet PC-based wireless video playback and telestration tool from XOS Technology. Wired News refers to the device that the Sharks use on the bench as a “bench monitor”.
Tim Hunter, San Jose Sharks assistant coach (shown working with the tablet PC), commented on the video review capability, “We’re able to make edit marks on the streaming video and then go back and replay those. You can review why you got the goal or why the team broke down.”
While other NHL teams typically employ a coach to review video away from the ice somewhere, and may show video to players in the locker room between periods, the Sharks do at least some of this on the bench, in real time. [ San Jose Sharks photo, taken by Rocky Widner ]