Stanley Cup Final Preview National Hockey League Write to American Sign Language In 2022, Brice Christianson initially feared it would be a one-time thing and his only chance to open the doors of hockey for the deaf community.
Two years later, the league has taken another big step forward, and it's hard not to be excited.
The Stanley Cup Finals will be the first time a major sports league American Sign LanguageEvery game in the series Edmonton and Florida Featuring play-by-play and color analysis from a deaf announcer. The first game will be on Saturday.
Florida Panthers player Nick Cousins (21) and Edmonton Oilers player Matthias Ekholm (14) fight for the puck during the first period of an NHL game in Edmonton, Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023.
The Canadian Press/Jason Franson
“This is the first step in getting deaf people on screen and connecting the deaf community to people like them,” said Christiansen, founder and CEO of PXP, which manages the telecasts on ESPN+ and Sportsnet+. “The NHL signed this agreement and believes it is groundbreaking.
“It’s truly historic that they’ve doubled down on their efforts and expressed a desire to continue doing so.”
This is the next step in the NHL’s partnership with PXP, a company dedicated to making sports more inclusive through interpretation, and comes on the heels of another historic moment: Last weekend, TNT broadcast the U.S. Women’s Deaf National Soccer Team’s game against Australia in American Sign Language. Reporter Melissa Ortiz covered the game on screen in American Sign Language.
Third-generation Deaf people, Jason Altmann, PX-P COO, and Noah Blankenship of the Denver Office of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services will do just that during the Cup Finals. This type of representation is more important than closed captioning because it directly serves the Deaf community, rather than having members read text about the game.
“We're able to broadcast the game live and do the commentary directly in American Sign Language without an interpreter, which is what the deaf and hard of hearing community really wants,” said Kim Davis, the NHL's senior executive vice president of social impact, development initiatives and legislative affairs. “This is what they deserve. This makes the game really meaningful to them. This isn't re-translating the game from another language.”
“They hear the game live, in their own language and in the way they understand best.”
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Getting to this point is another accomplishment for Christiansen, an American Sign Language interpreter whose parents are deaf, who has been trying to convince teams and the league to try something like this for years. The connection with the NHL began with a meeting in 2021 with Paul LaCaruba, vice president of youth strategy and hockey culture, which ended with Christiansen pleading with one person to take up the idea he had for the deaf community.
Brice Christianson poses for a photo after translating NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman's annual state of the league press conference from English to American Sign Language before Game 1 of the NHL's Stanley Cup Final at Bauer Arena on June 15, 2022 in Denver.
AP Photo/Stephen Whyno, File Photo
Christiansen said LaCarruba was the man who provided translation services to Commissioner Gary Bettman and Vice President Bill Daly two years ago. It was just a press conference, but it was a chance to bring the most important game of the season to an underserved population.
“We know there are millions of deaf and hard of hearing hockey fans, and there are many more who have yet to fall in love with the sport,” LaCarruba said.
“We are building access for the deaf community, and the Stanley Cup Finals is the best platform to gauge everyone’s response.”
Gauge reactions, not celebrate wins.’ Christiansen said the NHL plans to continue doing that after this series, and that path forward will make this test the next one that can be changed and improved.
“I think it’s very brave of the NHL to say, ‘We want to do this,’ ” Christiansen said. “We’re going to do our best, give it our best shot, report back, and try to do better every step of the way.”
This could end up being a blueprint for others. Davis has learned a lot about ASL and how to communicate with the deaf community, and he would be happy if the NHL was the first but not the last organization to try something similar.
“We're doing something that no other major league has ever attempted, which is broadcasting and experiences by deaf people for deaf people,” Davis said. “We're proud of that. We just want to continue to support the communities that we want to be authentic to, and if another league wants to follow suit, we think imitation is the best form of flattery, so let's do it.”
