The last-place Chicago Blackhawks really will become a cartoon when they host the surging, Central Division leading Dallas Stats at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 6. It should look like a hockey game. [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjA1NTA5NzI2NjY5MTIxMDYy/screenshot-2024-04-04-at-45920pm.png] It should look like a hockey game. Seriously. And we know in advance. Fans will be able to view the game in a first-ever real-time animated telecast. The alternate presentation will start at 2 p.m. CT on NBC Sports Chicago plus with a special edition of Blackhawks Pregame Live. See a sample in the video. Preview of Blackhawks animated broadcast on April 6, versus Dallas. Fans will see the game with a representation of all its real action and players as part of a celebration of a "birthday party" for Chicago team mascot Tommy Hawk. Blackhawks TV play-by-play broadcaster Chris Vosters will call the game, but he'll be working off monitors in the NHL offices in New York. There will be about a 40-second delay as the game is converted into a volumetric animated format. The kids-friendly broadcast will leverage NHL EDGE positional data and optical tracking to recreate action on the ice. The kid-friendly broadcast is part of a celebration of Blackhawks mascot Tommy Hawk's "birthday." [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjA1NTA4OTQzMzc0NDYwNDU0/chi-animated-broadcast_graphic-16x9.png] The kid-friendly broadcast is part of a celebration of Blackhawks mascot Tommy Hawk's "birthday." Vosters, who has gone through a rehearsal for the broadcast, will be joined by analysts Dominic Moore, Tony Granato and Adam Burish–once kidded by teammates the "the most interviewed fourth-line forward in hockey." The broadcast is a complement to, but not a replacement for, a traditional game telecast on NBS Sports Chicago with broadcasters John Wiedeman and Darren Pang. The goal is to engage younger fans. Cartoon Connor closes in. [https://thehockeynews.com/.image/c_fit,h_600,w_600/MjA1NTA5NzA4MTQ3MDc0MjUz/screenshot-2024-04-04-at-45805pm.png] Cartoon Connor closes in. "Every day, we're challenging ourselves to bring hockey to fans in new ways, and we're incredibly excited to bring the first-ever local animated game to kids across Chicagoland and beyond in partnership with NBC Sports Chicago and the NHL," Jaime Faulkner, Blackhawks president of business operations said in a statement."
