The Definitive "Hockey Paradise" FAQ Guide

This Saturday, Tampa Bay’s hottest club is the HOCKEYVERSE.

And more specifically, Hockey Paradise.

This magical world has everything: pirate ships, watch parties, Digital Nikita Kucherov and a 2 p.m. tilt between the Lightning and Islanders.

The game is being aired as a real-time, animated broadcast on the Lightning app and NHL.com. And Hockey Paradise, presented by AdventHealth, is part of a first-time endeavor for the NHL and Tampa Bay sports teams at large, with all the animated action taking place in a Tampa Bay-themed virtual world, featuring the iconic buildings, beaches and surroundings that locals know and love.

Not since Tony Hawk’s Underground has Tampa featured this much bandwidth in the Animated Athlete Multiverse. Which is why we decided to answer some frequently asked questions to get you up to speed on everything to look for come Saturday.

How can I tune into the NHL HOCKEYVERSE animated broadcast?

The animated game will be carried locally on the official Lightning app and NHL.com. You can also catch the traditional live-action broadcast on FanDuel, but you can do that for all the other games.

Let’s get a look at this “HOCKEYVERSE.” Just how realistic is the Tampa Bay skyline?

The brainiacs responsible for building Hockey Paradise are Sony’s Beyond Sports. And by all means, they’ve built something that looks like an extremely appealing place to watch a hockey game.

The skyline is legit, too.

As you can see above and in the headline photo up top, the Truist building, “Beer Can” building and Thunder Alley are all front and center. Even the University of Tampa’s minarets get some action, along with the Sunshine Skyway, St. Pete Pier and Gasparilla invasion ship.

How will the gameplay look compared to the average, human hockey game?

You mean aside from all the players being digital caricatures? The animated stream will be a direct representation of the actual game, meaning if Jake Guentzel scores from the left circle, tiny cartoon Jake Guentzel does so, as well.

How does Sony pull off this sort of technological magic trick?

They merge real-time NHL EDGE Positional Data (NHL puck and player tracking) with Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations’ optical tracking. All of this generates the realistic character and player avatar movements you’ll see go down in real time.

Now, how all of that works? No idea. But it sounds and looks pretty cool.

How good are the players in the HOCKEYVERSE?

Uh, pretty good. Unlike actual players, these little guys are fully capable of blowing the doors off the back of the goal with a slapshot.

Are there fans in Hockey Paradise?

Tons of them. They are the little pucks you see along the boards, in the bleachers and exiting the trolley in the sizzle video. They commute, cheer and jet-ski just like us. Some of them work long hours at the financial centers we just mentioned, so heading down to the rink for a game is a nice way to blow off some steam. They also appear to be very happy to be there—just as avid and loyal as real-life Lightning fans.

Is their slogan also “Be the Thunder?”

Of course.

You mentioned ThunderBug—will he be in the HOCKEYVERSE, as well?

Yes. In fact, he’s kind of the host of this shindig—the Big Cheese of Hockey Paradise. What John Hammond is to Jurassic Park, ThunderBug is to the HOCKEYVERSE.

How does ThunderBug get into Hockey Paradise?

He parachutes in. If you’ve ever seen the halo jump stunt Tom Cruise does in Mission Impossible: Fallout, it’s a lot like that, except ThunderBug lands smackdab in a rink-side recliner, which is a level of halo jump accuracy that even Cruise has yet to accomplish.

Will there be an official Lightning Watch Party for this thing?

Wow, yes. Fans can catch a free watch party of the animation game on Ford Thunder Alley at AMALIE Arena. The stream and entire game is in conjunction with Kids’ Day. ThunderBug and co. will be going gangbusters out there for Bug’s birthday, featuring giveaways, kid-friendly food & beverage specials, ball hockey, music, face painters, balloon twisters, caricature artists and more. So if you’re trying to really turn up for the HOCKEYVERSE, this is the way to do it.

One last thing. Are there fights in the HOCKEYVERSE?

You'll have to tune in to find out.