In a landmark deal, the NHL has announced a deal with GoPro that will place wearable cameras on players and referees during live-action on the ice. The deal is the first of its kind to his a major professional sports league, and it offers a new way to experience the action of hockey games up-close.

According to NHL.com, the cameras will make their debut at events taking place over the league's All-Star weekend.

"Game broadcasts will use the content to provide deeper layers of storytelling and to showcase the skating, stickhandling, goal scoring and net-minding skills of some of the biggest names in the NHL," the league said in a statement.

Players are under no obligation to wear the cameras.

GoPro's cameras have become very popular in the action sports world, capturing insane video of cliffdiving, parachuting and other extreme sports. Inventive applications of the camera continue to be found, with the cameras even being attached to eagles as they fly and hunt.

And in one of the stranger uses, Wayne Gretzky's wife, Janet, donned a GoPro on her head to take in the birth of her first grandchild.


Fair to say that the NHL's deal might be a little more TV-friendly. It figures to create a more intimate hockey experience than ever before, and it may prompt other major sports leagues to follow suit.

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