This is an interesting read from Sportsnet
WHITBY, Ont. — Ryan Smyth reaches into a large, black CCM hockey bag, but no sticks or skates can be found inside. Instead, there are just plenty of gadgets.
There’s a compression undershirt outfitted with sensors, and a GPS tracker that can fit in your palm. There’s a small box that can be affixed to a player’s hip for 3D motion capture, and many other pieces of wearable technology.
Smyth, a sports technologist for the Anaheim Ducks, is going to change the Ontario Hockey League Combine with this bag of goodies. He’s confident its contents will help push the league into the future and eventually advance other North American combines, too.
“This is going to accomplish something that’s never been seen before,” Smyth says. “This is where combines should be at now—[where they] will eventually get to.”
This year’s OHL combine will be entirely driven by data, says Smyth, seated at a table inside the office of Elite Training Systems (ETS), which will help facilitate the event on April 1 and 2 at Oshawa’s Tribute Communities Centre. In his job with the Ducks, Smyth evaluates physical information and can merge it with hockey analytics to develop a greater understanding of each player. He’s hoping to do the same at the OHL Combine.
You can read the article in it’s entirety at sportsnet.ca
