Ice Hockey Leagues are suspended on ice

With live attendance frozen by Covid-19, Washington Capitals and other ice hockey Leagues and teams had to heat up some creative solutions to engage fans

Words by Lee Renwick

Pictures by Washington Ice Hockey Photography & CHL

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Sports fans around the world have been starved of real, in-person action for almost a year now. While many games, leagues and competitions have been able to resume recently, fan presence is virtually non-existent for the vast majority. And perhaps few are missing the crowded stands so sorely as ice hockey fans. Even for the uninitiated, it’s easy to see the draw of those fast-paced, full-contact thrills. For diehard supporters, attendance  means something else entirely, and their fandom may be better described as joyous fanaticism.

Globally, it doesn’t get bigger than North America’s National Hockey League. The NHL is home to some of the hottest talent on the planet and the league has just passed its centenary. In Europe, ice hockey is really on the rise, with teams established in dozens of countries. Every year since 2014, the cream of the crop have faced off in the Champions Hockey League, with the top 32 teams from 13 professional leagues clashing for top spot.

Our goal is to help passionate fans feel as if they’re at a home game, and replicate that the best we can

Ice hockey leagues: Go, Caps!

The Washington Capitals have been in the news for all the right reasons lately. At the time of writing, they’re off to a flying start this season. Beyond this, they’ve launched an intuitive Virtual Gameday platform, offering fans the chance to get a taste of the live life, despite stadiums remaining closed across the board.

“Some of the biggest challenges came during the summer,” recalls Hunter Lochmann, chief marketing officer at Monumental Sports & Entertainment, a partner group of the Capitals. ”We faced delays, then, following the restart, the team was in Toronto. There was only so much we could do from Washington DC other than bring the games to life on social and digital platforms – so that’s what we did.”