What it’s like to watch an NHL game in virtual reality

Most hockey-crazed fans will skip out on enjoying the weekend sunshine to watch their favorite team get decimated on TV.

But have you ever thought about strapping a piece of plastic to your face for three hours?

Yeah, I get it. Nerd alert.

Sunday, March 16, 2025. I had this day circled on my calendar for months. Colorado Avalanche vs. Dallas Stars. Mikko Rantanen was making his first start back in Colorado since getting traded – twice. That was a great storyline, for sure – as was the big pre-game event honoring Nathan MacKinnon’s 1,000th NHL point.

That’s not what I was focusing on. Instead, I was ready to watch an entire National Hockey League game in virtual reality.

I’ve been a casual VR user for a few years. Mainly, I use it for sim racing. But I also watch the odd sporting event on there, including the 2025 Daytona 500. Using the Xtadium app on my Meta Quest 2, I knew there was something else I really wanted to try – watching a full NHL game.

Shockingly, I watch a lot of hockey, including in some of the dingiest barns you’ll ever find. I’ve also watched plenty in some of the NHL’s most prestigious arenas, such as the Bell Centre and Scotiabank Arena. I’ve also seen multiple Stanley Cup Final games at Ball Arena in Denver, Colorado —which became the second of three NHL on TNT games to get VR treatment during the 2024-25 regular season.

To set the scene: you get your own seat amongst the crowd, just slightly above the upper bowl. You can watch with friends in your own private booth, but, to be honest, I don’t know anyone else who has the app and wanted to spend their nice pre-spring day sitting alone in their house. From there, you have in two cameras in each end – one behind the net, and another near a photo hole.

You don’t get to choose the camera views – that’s controlled by TNT Sports using technology from Cosm. Cosm uses 8K video cameras in “shared reality” that showcase a live sporting event, but from camera views, you won’t find on a traditional broadcast. You still get the TNT broadcast at the top of the screen with full commentary, but the real focus is getting closer to the action. You may have even seen footage of Cosm’s unique showcases in Dallas and Los Angeles – massive screens that look like you’re actually there. Plenty of sports use that technology, with the NBA being the most frequent.

We first saw the NHL use this in a game between Dallas and Los Angeles a few months ago. The third and final game will happen March 26, with Dallas taking on the Edmonton Oilers.

Watching in VR isn’t for the faint of heart, and I recommend having experience with a headset before giving it a try. It’s an easy case for motion sickness, and if your internet connection isn’t great, you’ll have a difficult time. I deal with barometric pressure headaches, making spending an hour in VR challenging. But the smoothness of the video, plus the camera only changing when necessary, made it a crisp, positive experience. If you watch a game in VR, I would recommend having a fan nearby. But beyond that, get comfy. Sit on the couch or lay down in bed like you usually would. I ran this straight through my Quest 2 headset and wireless streamed the video to my computer to get footage, so it looks a bit choppy. But it was a consistent 90 frames per second the whole time.

The broadcast started during warmups, which was a nice touch. The microphones in the arena are live the whole time, so if someone talks loud enough, you can hear everything. Most notably, I heard a conversation between two men wondering if they should cheer or jeer Rantanen during the lineup announcements. If you care, they elected for “MOOOSE!” instead of “BOOO!”

Once the game started, there were some minor audio issues, with the commentary being layered and slightly offset. It was all fixed before the Stars scored to make it 1-0, which you can see here. It was too bad we didn’t get the goal at ice level in real-time, but I didn’t mind seeing the celebration, at least.

Obviously, it’s more fun seeing the home team score and getting a real feel for what that’s like. When Martin Necas scored on the power play, the crowd’s sound was impressive. That’s something I feel like modern NHL broadcasts can struggle with – getting the volume right to show just how incredible the atmosphere is. Just go back and watch CBC playoff broadcasts from before the 2004-05 lockout – everything just felt more special and amplified.

And when your camera is situated in the crowd, you get that same experience. It felt as close to being there as you can get without actually being there.

The game itself was fantastic. Back-and-forth scoring. Two heavyweights from the Central Division going at it. The star power was on full display, and Cale Makar’s exceptional effort on the game-winner was icing on the cake. And the best part? The VR broadcast had a perfect angle of it.

My biggest complaint was that the audio and video from the broadcast were ahead of what we saw in the game. It was about a second, but that was enough to kill the excitement once a goal was scored. I used to live near Scotiabank Arena and could hear the goal horn go off about 10 seconds before seeing it on the broadcast. This didn’t have the same latency, but it was enough to be frustrating.

Another minor gripe: I wish the camera worked in full 360 so you could look around and see things behind you instead of being locked to about 180 degrees. But I also imagine the people sitting closest to the camera don’t want you looking up their nose.

Hockey fans don’t have much to work with in the VR space. There’s the training tool Sense Arena, but the cost makes it difficult to get into it for most people not chasing a pro dream. There are some indie games, but nothing too mainstream. Could you imagine VR support in NHL 26? That would be wild.

The technology is incredible. It’s been a while since I’ve been this excited about watching a sports broadcast. It felt unique. Would I watch all games in VR? Not a chance. It’s sweaty and not exactly a stunning social experience. But as a one-off or something every so often? Absolutely. The quality and integration were good, and it was a great way to cut out distractions and focus on watching good, competitive hockey.

It’ll be interesting to see how the NHL and its partners continue to develop in this space. The NHL has worked with groups to bring more animated games to the fold, which has been fantastic. The league has embraced technology quite strongly (other than still needing manual reviews to tell if a puck crossed the line).

Overall, it was a fun time. If you want an immersive experience, watching a game in VR is the best way to do it without actually being there in person. There haven’t been many games in VR so far, but the early feedback online has been solid. If you’ve got a headset lying around, it’s absolutely worth the try.

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What it’s like to watch an NHL game in virtual reality

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