The National Hockey League says hockey is for everyone, and with the Stanley Cup Finals, they mean it. In a first-of-its-kind broadcast, the league is broadcasting the Stanley Cup Finals in American Sign Language (ASL) everywhere.
The league's ASL broadcast is the first major sports telecast dedicated fully to the deaf community.
Jerry Trayner is a hockey fan born-and-raised in Detroit, and he's a die-hard Red Wings fans.
I watched it and I will tell you, fascinating, so fascinating, having it in ASL," Trayner said. "I am so happy the NHL did this."
There is a game feed that the main broadcast shows, but underneath is an audio meter showing the real-time crowd noise to give ASL viewers the arena vibe.
On the right you'll see Jason Altmann and Noah Blankenship. They're ESPN's broadcasters, calling real-time play-by-play and color commentary entirely in sign language.
Altmann grew up watching sports with his father and grandfather, who are also deaf.
"Back then, they didn't have any captions, so if you knew the rules of sports, you were able to engage," he said.
Altmann is accompanied by Brice Christianson. More than an interpreter, together Brice and Jason make up play-by-play, dedicated to change the game for deaf and hard-of-hearing sports fans.
"Imagine 40 years later and here we are on TV, elevating accessibility," he said. "For lack of better terms, it's a cool experience.
A common reaction among non-ASL fans might be, how do you watch the game and the broadcasters? Or why don't you use closed-captioning?
Well, closed-captioning can be delayed, inaccurate, or misspelled, and physically block the play on the screen.
"I've seen a lot of comments on social media, 'how can deaf people watch simultaneously?' You're underestimating our capability of what deaf people can do," Trayner said. "Just imagine if you say, 'captions are good enough.' What's the difference of watching sports and then reading captions at the same time? If that's their argument?"
Paul Fugate has taught ASL and served as an interpreter for the deaf in metro Detroit for over three decades. He said the the NHL's latest move is a sign of progression.
"If I was deaf, I would feel so inspired, like wow, you did this for me, you took the time to think about my needs and how I can access it," Fugate said.
He's the owner and CEO of ASL Deafined, a website that aims to educate in the sign language.
"I think it's the lack of education. Not that people don't want to know about it, they're just not aware," Fugate said.
Jerry and Paul want ot clear up a major misconception of the deaf community: Being deaf, or hard of hearing, is not a disability.
"If you were not born with hearing in the first place, how can it be a disability or a handicap? How can it be held against you if you were not born with it?" Jerry said.
Jason and Brice ensure this broadcast is not one and done.
"This is about the deaf community being validated, being seen, and what can we do to create a positive impact and change the deaf community moving foward," Altmann said.
