Sign language interpreters have been present for national anthems, but this represented the NHL’s biggest step yet to make the stories around hockey available to the deaf and hard of hearing community.
Brice Christianson poses for a photo after interpreting NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman’s annual state of the league news conference from English into American Sign Language, Wednesday, June 15, 2022, at Ball Arena in Denver before Game 1 of the NHL hockey Stanley Cup Final. It’s the first time the league has used a sign language interpreter for a news conference. Brice Christianson went to sporting events as a child and realized how inaccessible that world was for his deaf father.
Christianson and P-X-P chief operating officer Jason Altmann didn’t just belong. They were guests of honor at the final, spending time with Bettman and other league executives in the green room at Ball Arena after helping out at the news conference. Altmann signed it was important to have American Sign Language access to play by play, commentary and news to make sports feel more welcoming.
“What they emphasized to us is that a lot of what you can see in gameplay is easy to capture, but a lot of the sort of commentary and the business of the game, the culture of the game — the off-ice stuff — is often what gets lost because it’s less visual,” said Parnagian, NHL manager of growth strategies and social impact.