Future Goals Kids Day presented by SAP big hit at NHL Fan Fair

LAS VEGAS --The Las Vegas Convention Center became the site of a scavenger hunt -- and a place of learning -- at the 2022 NHL All-Star Future Goals Kids Day presented by SAP.

Some 500 local students who have participated in the NHL/National Hockey League Players' Association's Future Goals - Hockey Scholar program, with the support of the Vegas Golden Knights, were treated to a special educational experience at the convention center, site of the 2022 Truly Hard Seltzer NHL Fan Fair at the 2022 Honda NHL All-Star Weekend.
Future Goals - Hockey Scholar is an online course that teaches Science, Technology and Math (STEM) concepts through the prism of hockey.
Students at the convention center on Friday got to mingle with NHL team mascots, including Gritty (Philadelphia Flyers), Wild Wing (Anaheim Ducks) and Howler the Coyote (Arizona Coyotes), and listen to a panel discuss how science, technology, engineering and math and sustainability intersect with the sport and business of hockey.
"We've put sensors on players and there's technology in the puck as well," Dan Fleetwood, vice president for global partnerships for SAP, told the students. "We're taking that data right off the ice, it's coming through the cloud and back on to the coaches on the bench. They're looking at the iPad and understanding the time on ice, they're understanding face-off matchups and who's having a hot night. You're able to make decisions in real time a lot quicker and a lot more informed."
Joan Kilban, the 2020 Future Goals Most Valuable Teacher of the Year presented by SAP winner, told the students STEM allows people to work in hockey or other sports if they don't have the skill to be players.

"You guys living where you are, you're at the center of the most exciting place on Earth," said Kilban, a fifth-grade teacher in Hingham, Massachusetts. "With a newer NHL team and a new NFL team (Las Vegas Raiders), just the amount of career opportunities you have at your fingertips using the STEM process.
"We'd all like to be one of the roster players on the Golden Knights or my hometown team, the Boston Bruins … but that isn't realistic for everybody. But just to know that there are thousands of people behind the scenes who play an incredibly important role to putting that team on the ice night after night at their peak performance is so exciting."
Andrew Ference, NHL Director, Social Impact, Growth & Fan Development, said STEM and sustainability go hand in hand in arenas around the League in an effort to become more ecologically aware and improve energy efficiency.
"We go to all the rinks and we're trying to collect all the information from the rinks," said Ference, a former defenseman with the Pittsburgh Penguins, Calgary Flames, Boston Bruins and Edmonton Oilers. "We want to know how much energy you're using for the lights, how much water are you using, how much waste are you creating and we want to basically lower all of those things so we can be more sustainable."
After the discussion, the students embarked on a STEM and sustainability bingo scavenger hunt at Fan Fair, answering questions about STEM and the NHL diagonally and across on a card bingo-style.
The branded Future Goals STEM and sustainability-focused activity was developed by Everfi, which offers teachers and students virtual courses on life skills topics, in conjunction with various NHL exhibits at Fan Fair.
"This was fantastic," said Snehal Bhakta, who works in career & technical education for the Clark County (Nevada) School District. "The students just enjoyed hearing from the people that work in the NHL and how what they're learning in the classroom relates to a sport. Sometimes it's hard to believe, but to hear it from someone is really awesome."
More than 3.1 million students have participated in the Future Goals program across North America since it was founded in 2014, accounting for more than 6.5 million hours of learning.
Students who have participated in the program saw their STEM skills increase by 82 percent, and teachers who incorporated it into their students' coursework said they would recommend the program to fellow educators.