How the NHL invaded Big City Greens
It was less than a week before the Washington Capitals‘ game at the New York Rangers on March 14, and the ESPN production team still wasn’t sure how it would handle a video goal review during the game.
Normally, this wouldn’t be a concern. But normally, the referee isn’t a 3D animated chicken.
“When the ref skates out to make the announcement, we’ll just track the ref’s mic,” director Jeff Nelson of ESPN said. “But wait … this is interesting. I need to find out if the chicken would actually head out on the ice for something like that.”
These were the questions being asked and answered behind the scenes for several months as ESPN, Disney and the NHL partnered for a first-of-its-kind broadcast: an entire hockey game recreated in real-time inside a virtual environment, featuring 3D animated players whose movements synced with what was happening on the ice at Madison Square Garden, thanks to puck and player tracking data.
The “NHL Big City Greens Classic” features live, real-time volumetric animations of players and teams modeled after characters on the Emmy Award-winning “Big City Greens.” It’s scheduled to air on March 14 at 7 p.m. EDT on ESPN+, Disney Channel, Disney XD and Disney+. The traditional game telecast between the Rangers and Capitals will be available on ESPN and ESPN+.
The virtual game will take place in Big City’s “Times Circle,” and will feature animated avatars of actual players in the NHL game. When Alex Ovechkin takes a slap shot at MSG, the NHL Edge technology on his jersey and in the puck will register that and the player wearing his jersey in the Big City Greens Classic will do the same.
But along with the actual players, there will be characters from the show participating in the game. Gramma Alice and her son Bill will replace the starting goaltenders for the Capitals and Rangers. Cricket Green will replace a player on the Rangers while Tilly Green will replace one on the Capitals. Other characters might be involved later in the game and during intermissions.
The announcers for the game — Drew Carter and Kevin Weekes — will broadcast from ESPN’s Bristol studio wearing motion capture suits. Their animated avatars will appear on the broadcast.
“We were blown away. It’s an incredible accomplishment and such a cool way to watch hockey,” Chris Houghton, who co-created the animated show with brother Shane, said. “This all came together so quickly, and it’s all being rendered live as the actual players skate around on the ice.”
Actual players … and one chicken referee.
“The chicken ref,” Nelson said, smiling. “Once he drops the puck, he poofs away and appears again when there’s a faceoff.”
Less than a week before the broadcast, Nelson and his team were still trying to determine what viewers would see and hear from the chicken ref on a goal review.
Could the chicken simply mouth the audio captured from the referee’s mic on the ice at MSG? Well, that would lead to another complication: It was already determined the chicken would also sound like a chicken. For example, if there’s a controversial penalty during the game, the virtual announcers would have the ability to interview the chicken ref, who will justify its call with impassioned bocking, clucking and other fowl noises.
The chicken ref wasn’t always a chicken ref. In fact, many aspects of this landmark broadcast have morphed and changed over the last several months. But none of it would be possible without the data that’ll be used to control the virtual Capitals, Rangers, Cricket and Gramma Alice on Tuesday night.
“It’s almost been a year now since we understood the technology,” said Johanna Goldblatt, a manager in programming and acquisitions for ESPN that helped shepherd the project. “The puck and player tracking has been so crucial in making this happen.”
Big City Greens visits the Big Apple! Don’t miss the Big City Greens Classic tomorrow at 7p ET on @DisneyPlus, @ESPN & @ESPNPlus! pic.twitter.com/EuoWUKewFo
— NHL (@NHL) March 13, 2023
THE NHL DIDN’T start tracking its players and pucks with a chicken referee in mind — or really any of the immersive technology it can fuel today.
“Were we thinking about Metaverse then? No, we weren’t thinking about Metaverse,” David Lehanski, NHL senior VP for business development and global partnerships, said. “We were thinking about stats and analytics and new data and storytelling. We were thinking about broadcast visualizations. We were thinking a little bit about gaming. But we weren’t thinking about this stuff.”
For years, the NHL tried to figure out how to collect real-time data during games using technology. The 1990s saw the much-derided FoxTrax “glow puck,” in which an array of infrared emitters and the electronics were placed inside the puck. The NHL started seriously exploring puck and player tracking again in 2014, although its cost and some quality control problems with the pucks created growing pains.
The latest incarnation — dubbed NHL Edge and powered by SMT — has been the most successful version of puck and player tracking for the league. It collects data through sensors on player uniforms and inside the puck itself. There’s also an optical tracking component that validates that data “within a few milliseconds,” Lehanski said.
The data goes beyond player and puck location. The sensors measure speed and distance for skaters and on their shots, among other data points.
Now that they had a tracking system they were confident in, the NHL started chasing the big ideas they had for that data. For example, using real-time puck and player tracking to recreate a hockey game in a virtual 3D environment, with animated players and camera angles that couldn’t be accomplished in the real world.
That was something a Netherlands-based company called Beyond Sports was already doing for professional soccer matches. The NHL partnered with the firm and began showing demonstrations of virtual hockey games, which could be viewed on screens or using VR goggles. The players were big and blocky. The action was slower than in an actual game. But the potential for the technology was obvious and it’s only been refined since then.
When the NHL started its new media rights deals in 2021, brainstorming began on ways to use that tech for an alternative virtual broadcast of NHL games.
“In a really short window it kind of exploded. At one point, we were just thinking of doing something a little small,” Lehanski said. “Then it quickly grew and grew because of the buy-in from Disney.”
Beyond Sports and the NHL presented their technology to ESPN during the 2022 Stanley Cup Final. Ed Placey, a vice president in ESPN’s Event and Studio Production group, was one of those invited to check it out.
“I get immersed in a lot of our innovative production approaches and new technology,” he said. “So I get called into a lot of meetings to look at technology that somebody finds interesting and wants to know if there’s any ‘there’ there.”
Placey sat in a conference room at ESPN’s Seaport offices in New York City and watched a game between the Colorado Avalanche and Tampa Bay Lightning on two screens: The live game on one and a real-time recreation of the game in a virtual space on another.
In hearing the real play-by-play and watching the virtual game, Placey said the path forward was clear: Take the game seriously … but laugh a little bit in the presentation.
Since it was established there was some “there” there, Goldblatt started talking with the Disney Family Networks and found interest on the Disney XD side.
“They’re exploring sports more and really intrigued by the technology there,” she said. “‘Big City Greens’ seemed like an awesome opportunity, especially with the connections with the Houghton Brothers.”
Chris and Shane Houghton’s “Big City Greens” first aired on The Disney Channel in 2018. It featured a farmer named Bill Green who loses his home in the country and takes his children Cricket and Tilly to move in with Gramma Alice on a small farm in the middle of Big City. (They would eventually move back to their farm in Smalton.)
Shane Houghton said the brothers always had an affinity for hockey.
“Growing up, there was a pond on our parents’ property and when it would freeze over in the winter. We would lace up some skates, grab some hockey sticks, skate around, and smack a puck at each other,” he told ESPN. “I don’t know if I’d exactly call it ‘hockey,’ but it was definitely ‘hockey-esque.'”
The brothers would eventually attend Michigan State University and went to Spartans hockey games there. “We’d often get great seats right down close to the action. There is no sport that gets the blood pumping quite like watching hockey,” Shane Houghton said.
For the NHL and ESPN, the partnership with Big City Greens offered an avenue to bring hockey to potential new fans — and ones in demographics that the NHL is chasing.
“We want to meet the fans where they are,” Goldblatt said. “And if this is an environment that gets you more interested in watching hockey, then why shouldn’t we take advantage of, you know, the Disney company as a whole? Taking advantage of these family- and kid-friendly arms of content that we have only makes sense to us as we want to grow the sport of hockey and grow the fans that are interested in it.”
Even if the sport in question isn’t always well-mannered on the ice.
“Are we going to see Cricket and Tilly Green in a fist fight?” Goldblatt asked, with a laugh. “That’s the big question, right?”
THE SHORT ANSWER is “no,” there won’t be fistfights between “Big City Greens” characters or virtual Capitals and Rangers on Tuesday night.
“The biggest thing we get asked is what happens if there’s a fight,” Placey said. “Well, you won’t see punches thrown, arms swinging or anything else. You’ll at best see players belly-bumping more than anything else.”
The chips on the players’ jerseys don’t track body part movement. They interpret where the puck is in relation to the player. The virtual Capitals and Rangers will engage with their sticks and handle the pucks when the NHL Edge data indicates their real-life inspirations are doing so.
Getting the 3D animated players to look and act like hockey players was one of the challenges for the production team. The first iteration of the Beyond Sports tech featured large blocky players — think Minecraft or Roblox. Lehanski said that when those players would crowd around the net, the goalie would literally disappear from sight.
“The first couple iterations of this looked kind of jarring. You see the ‘Blockies’ and you’re like, ‘OK, think I understand how this looks, but it’s still kind of hard to see where everything is going,'” Goldblatt said. “Our creative services team made a version of the ‘Blockies’ that looked so much better. They’ve got stick movement and it’s better moving on the ice.”
The “Blockies” are now colloquially known as “Sparkies” behind the scenes. That’s because David Sparrgrove, a creative director at ESPN, re-modeled the players to be sleeker and better resembling their NHL inspirations. Silver Spoon, a New York-based real-time virtual production company, created the “bones” for those players and the “Big City Greens” characters.
One of the challenges was getting the proportions correct, as the ratios between the NHL players and their virtual proxies wasn’t 1-to-1. “Their heads are bigger, their arms are shorter, they only have four fingers. You can’t go in there and hand animate during a live game,” said Laura Herzing, an executive producer for Silver Spoon.
Another challenge: Taking traditionally 2D characters from “Big City Greens” and designing them for a 3D virtual environment. But the show indirectly helped out that effort when they created an episode based on virtual reality in Dec. 2022, which featured 3D characters.
“The crazy thing was to make the episode, we threw out the traditional animation pipeline and instead used software for video games instead of TV,” Shane Houghton said. “The look of the episode is incredible. After that technology was introduced to us, we knew we had to write an episode showcasing it.”
Silver Spoon’s previous work inspired another aspect of the “Big City Greens Classic”: In-game and intermission interviews with characters. They worked with CBS and Nickelodeon on the NFL “Nickmas” broadcast, which featured live commentary from Patrick Star of “SpongeBob SquarePants.” Voice actor Bill Fagerbakke wore a motion capture head harness and was able to interact in real time with the announcers.
“Big City Greens” voice actors will work with an ESPN crew in Glendale, Calif., on Tuesday night to provide commentary and interviews with the same technology. Cricket and Tilly will talk about playing in the game. During intermissions, there will be phone calls with “Big City Greens” characters like Driver Dave, who will “call in” to complain about the traffic the game has created. Wholesome Greg will gripe about the crowding of the Wholesome Foods parking lot. Then there’s Zamboni Tony, a new character created for the game.
Carter and Weekes will be able to see and hear the animated characters while broadcasting the game in their own motion capture suits. At first, the idea was to have real commentators cut in with the virtual game footage. ESPN suggested putting the commentators in the virtual environment themselves through motion capture technology. They’ll have the actual game and the virtual game in front of them, as synced up as possible, and then demonstrate some aspects of hockey between periods at a virtual goal net.
The announcers’ presence is another reminder that the “Big City Greens Classic” is, in fact, an NHL game broadcast, albeit one with a chicken referee.
The sound for the “Classic” will be from the traditional game broadcast. That offered its own challenge. Since the game will at Madison Square Garden, the goal horn and celebration for the Rangers will come in from the feed. But since the virtual game is being played at a “neutral site” in Times Circle, the broadcast will create a horn and celebration for Capitals goals as well.
Nelson said he has 49 “cameras” inside the virtual broadcast — as many as will cover the NFL Draft, for example — but doesn’t have the ability to see feeds from those cameras during the game. Instead, his team created a monitor wall with printed-out images of each camera angle as a reference point.
“As we go through the game, I know the angle that we’re looking for, even though I can’t see what’s going on in there,” Nelson said.
Many of those angles aren’t ones you’d find in a traditional broadcast.
“When you’re surveying an arena, you’re figuring out where you can put cameras and how much cameras cost, so you have to limit that,” Placey said. “But you can go into this world and place cameras wherever your wildest dreams can take you.”
In fact, some of those “wildest dreams” could end up on real NHL broadcasts.
IN SOME WAYS, the “Big City Greens” game will be a demo reel for what Placey hopes NHL coverage could look like one day.
“We’re over 40 camera angles — many of them traditional and some that we’ve made known that we’d like to have,” he said. “Cameras flying over the ice. Cameras following close behind players. You can show what can be done without having to go through the time and effort to figure out how to demo it in a real game.”
The game will also have “puck visuals,” with the speeding disc leaving behind a streak as it moves. While that might conjure images of the comet-tailed “glow puck” from the 1990s, Placey said there are two major advancements since that experiment: Puck tracking technology and the “second screen” experience.
Two other innovations he’s lobbied for on broadcasts that’ll be featured on the “Big City Greens” game: Full-time player identifications when they touch the puck and shot speeds presented on the ice for every shot that’s over 65 MPH.
(One idea the designers had for the “Big City” game: When the characters draw back to take a slapshot, there’s an animated comic-book graphic that says “POOF!” or “BANG!” that appears.)
Meanwhile, the NHL is continuing to refine its puck and player technology. Up next is an optical tracking solution that would add a significant amount of new data about body and stick positioning. That optical tracking system could show up next season, according to Lehanski.
For example, if a player is skating with the puck and then loses it, the current technology can determine who had the puck and where it traveled after the turnover. Optical tracking will illustrate how the puck was lost, perhaps through an unforced error or a defensive play.
“Once we have that, we will be able to have these virtual players, whatever they look like, be in the exact same position where their sticks and arm position are exactly the same,” he said.
For now, Lehanski is just thrilled to see years of technical refinement, trial and error lead to the “Big City Greens Classic,” having been awestruck when he saw the first game footage roll in.
“It’s almost like seeing a child graduate,” he said. “You’re kind of happy, you’re proud, you’re a little sad. It’s all those things. But when we actually saw it, it was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is so amazing.'”
Who will be the best running backs in college football in 2025?
We asked our college football reporters to vote for their top 10, distributing points based on their selections (10 points for a first-place vote, 9 points for second place and so on).
The results at the top include some familiar faces who made a mark in the College Football Playoff last season, but further down the list are some key transfers in new places and two freshmen who burst on to the scene, among others.
Here’s a look at our picks for the top 10 running backs in college football:
Points: 96 (8 of 10 first-place votes)
2024 stats: 163 carries, 1,125 yards, 17 TDs; 28 receptions, 237 yards, 2 TDs
Love emerged as Notre Dame’s top offensive playmaker during his sophomore season with 1,125 rushing yards and 17 touchdowns. He averaged 6.9 yards per carry. The only two FBS running backs with 150-plus attempts to average more yards per carry last season were Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty and Louisville’s Isaac Brown.
Love, at 6 feet and 212 pounds, is as effective earning the tough yards, as evidenced by his tackle-breaking touchdown against Penn State in the College Football Playoff, as he is breaking big plays. He had eight touchdowns of 30 yards or longer last season. The Irish want to get him the ball even more in 2025, as Love has lined up some as a wide receiver during spring practice. He caught 28 passes for 237 yards and two touchdowns in 2024. — Chris Low
Points: 82 (2 of 10 first-place votes)
2024 stats: 172 carries, 1,099 yards, 12 TDs; 41 receptions, 375 yards, 5 TDs
Singleton faced five-star expectations when he enrolled at Penn State in 2022 and has lived up to them throughout his time in State College. Now he’s coming back for his senior season to chase a national championship after helping the Nittany Lions break through to the CFP semifinals last season.
Singleton has put up a combined 4,673 all-purpose yards over the past three seasons, second most among all FBS backs behind Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty, and 41 career touchdowns. He has shared carries every season, averaging just 12.2 rushes per game over his career, but has consistently been highly productive and a true home run threat as a rusher, receiver and kick returner. — Max Olson
Points: 68
2024 stats: 220 carries, 1,108 yards, 8 TDs; 18 receptions, 153 yards, 2 TDs
ESPN’s Mel Kiper had Allen ranked as the No. 6 draft-eligible running back in the 2025 NFL draft class earlier this year. But rather than jumping to the pros, Allen will resume his position at Penn State as part of one of the nation’s most talented backfields alongside fourth-year quarterback Drew Allar and rushing partner Nicholas Singleton.
The Nittany Lions’ physical complement to Singleton and his elusive rushing style, Allen carried 220 times — fourth most among Big Ten running backs — and finished with 1,108 rushing yards and eight touchdowns as a junior in 2024. The 5-foot-11, 229-pound rusher averaged 6.7 yards per attempt across four postseason games, and ball security stands among his most valuable traits — Allen has lost one fumble across 559 career carries. — Eli Lederman
Points: 51
2024 stats (with Tulane): 265 carries, 1,401 yards, 15 TDs; 19 receptions, 176 yards, 2 TDs
The Tulane transfer ran for 1,401 yards last fall, ninth most nationally and more than any other returning running back. Hughes established himself as an exceptionally productive talent in two seasons with the Green Wave, and he lands at Oregon with two years of eligibility as an ideal replacement for 1,267-yard rusher Jordan James.
Hughes broke out for 1,378 yards on 258 carries as a freshman in 2023 before effectively replicating that rushing season. A key uptick in 2024: Hughes’ rushing touchdown count climbed from seven to 15. His 949 yards after first contact in 2024, per TruMedia, also leads all returning rushers in 2025. As the Ducks break in new quarterback Dante Moore, Hughes’ production and dependability could be especially important. — Lederman
Points: 45
2024 stats: 165 carries, 1,173 yards, 11 TDs; 30 receptions, 152 yards, 1 TD
There’s a good argument that last season, as a true freshman, Brown was the most explosive back in the country. Brown led all power-conference backs in yards per rush (7.11), had the fifth-most explosive runs (12 yards or more) with 33 and forced 41 missed tackles. His 8.2 yards-per-carry average between the tackles was a full yard better than any other power-conference running back. Brown also was a threat out of the backfield and in the return game. He eclipsed 99 yards of all-purpose yardage in eight of his past 10 games. — David Hale
Points: 38
2024 stats (with Louisiana-Monroe): 237 carries, 1,351 yards, 13 TDs; 8 receptions, 72 yards, 0 TDs
Hardy established himself as one of the top true freshmen in college football last season at Louisiana-Monroe. He rushed for 1,351 yards, including eight 100-yard games, and scored 13 touchdowns. He was overlooked by recruiters coming out of high school but was one of the top running back targets in the transfer portal and landed at Missouri.
Hardy, 5-foot-10 and 205 pounds, is at his best making defenders miss and churning out yards after contact. He was one of seven players nationally to have 1,000 yards or more after contact (1,012) last season. Hardy forced 91 missed tackles — only Boise State’s Ashton Jeanty and Arizona State’s Cam Skattebo had more. With Kewan Lacy leaving for Ole Miss, Hardy will get all the carries he can handle in 2025. — Low
Points: 31
2024 stats: 184 carries, 966 yards, 5 TDs; 52 receptions, 579 yards, 4 TDs
Reid made the move up from FCS Western Carolina to follow his offensive coordinator, Kade Bell, to Pitt last year and quickly proved he’s one of the most dynamic offensive playmakers in college football. The 5-8, 175-pound playmaker put up 1,704 all-purpose yards — 966 rushing, 579 receiving and 159 on punt returns — and scored 10 total touchdowns in an All-America debut season.
Reid achieved all that despite missing two games because of injury, and he finished fifth among all FBS players in all-purpose yards per game (154.9). The do-it-all back had three 200-yard performances over his first four games with the Panthers and will return for his senior season to produce plenty more in 2025. — Olson
Points: 19
2024 stats: 226 carries, 1,064 yards, 5 TDs; 44 receptions, 311 yards, 1 TD
Wisner stepped up in a big way for the Longhorns in 2024. Despite a depleted running back room and injuries to the offensive line across different portions of the season, Wisner had 1,064 yards and five touchdowns on the ground, adding 311 yards and another touchdown through the air. CJ Baxter should be back for the Longhorns after missing 2024 with a knee injury, but given what we saw from Wisner, he should still be well in the mix in the Texas backfield. — Harry Lyles Jr.
Points: 17
2024 stats: 169 carries, 944 yards, 9 TDs; 28 receptions, 166 yards, 3 TDs
Haynes, a wide receiver turned running back, has been one of the most consistent players in Georgia Tech’s offense over the past two seasons. Since 2023, Haynes has 2,003 yards on the ground and 16 touchdowns.
His versatility is something every team looks for in a back — he’s good at getting yards before defenders can get a hand on him (856 rushing yards before contact over the past two seasons, the most of any power-conference back in that span, per Pro Football Focus) and he’s good after they get a hand on him (his 1,145 yards after contact rank fourth, per PFF). In Haynes’ third year, the Yellow Jackets will be expecting much of the same. — Lyles
Points: 16
2024 stats: 175 carries, 1,028 yards, 12 TDs; 22 receptions, 217 yards, 1 TD
By mid October 2024, Washington had just 186 rushing yards and a touchdown to his credit (nearly all of which came against Air Force) and Baylor was a miserable 2-4 on the season. Then coach Dave Aranda tabbed Washington to serve as the Bears’ lead back, and everything changed.
Over the next six games, Washington racked up 127 carries for 818 yards and 11 touchdowns as Baylor won six straight. Washington was banged up early in Baylor’s bowl game against LSU and got just five carries — it’s no coincidence the Bears lost — but his growth throughout 2024 paired with that of quarterback Sawyer Robertson has Baylor thinking playoff in 2025. — Hale
Also receiving votes: Jonah Coleman, Washington, 15 points; Jaydn Ott, California, 14; Jahiem White, West Virginia, 14; Darius Taylor, Minnesota, 13; Caden Durham, LSU, 11; Jadan Baugh, Florida, 8; Nate Frazier, Georgia, 6; Jadarian Price, Notre Dame, 2; Le’Veon Moss, Texas A&M, 2; CJ Baxter, Texas, 1; Roman Hemby, Indiana 1
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Josh Weinfuss
AHMED HASSANEIN‘S JOURNEY to the doorstep of the NFL began on a balcony seven years ago in Cairo around a hookah.
With the roar of Cairo International Airport in the distance, Hassanein joined his two sisters, brother and nephew trading puffs in the sixth-floor penthouse they grew up in overlooking the Heliopolis suburb.
As they passed the hookah, Hassanein’s sisters, Gigi and Aziza Ibrahim, told Hassanein’s older brother, Cory Besch, about Hassanein’s life over the past decade after moving from California at age 6. Hassanein had forgotten how to speak English, had behavioral issues that caused him to be expelled from school, and was being raised by his mother, who he said had a substance abuse disorder.
“She was a very, very abusive person,” Hassanein told ESPN. “Like starting with addiction, with drugs and all that stuff, and she was really verbally abusive and physically abusive.”
Through it all, Hassanein took solace in sports including breakdancing, soccer, swimming, basketball, boxing, jujitsu, pingpong and CrossFit. He became the top-ranked CrossFit athlete in Egypt and one of the best in Africa. It also helped him cultivate a strong work ethic.
Besch, who was 30 at the time and making his first trip to Egypt in 20 years, hadn’t seen Hassanein in a decade. After hearing from his siblings that night — June 26, 2018 — Besch started formulating a plan to get Hassanein, then 15, back to the United States.
“I was like, ‘Well, what if he came and lived with me and played football for me?'” said Besch, who coached at Loara High School in Anaheim, California.
It was a major pivot for Hassanein, who was set to attend Riverside Preparatory, a military school in Gainesville, Georgia.
“I remember Aziza telling me, ‘It’s going to be really hard, and it’s going to be one of the most difficult things you’ve ever done because the culture shock is going to be there, you’re going to lose all your friends, you can’t speak English very well,'” Hassanein said.
“And I was like, ‘I can do it.'”
During a family vacation at a resort on the Red Sea later that week, Besch helped convince their father to let him move away 7,500 miles. A month later, Hassanein was on a plane to Los Angeles.
Fast-forward to today and — despite initial language barriers, lack of football knowledge and playing the sport for the first time as a sophomore in high school — Hassanein is on the verge of becoming the first Egyptian to be drafted into the NFL. ESPN draft analyst Matt Miller has the former Boise State defensive end, who is 6-foot-2, 267 pounds, going in the sixth round at pick No. 216 in his latest mock draft.
“It was surreal to think that we just dreamed this to save Ahmed and get him to the U.S., like ‘Project Mission: Get Ahmed to the U.S.,’ and then it was ‘Mission: Get Ahmed into College,’ and now it’s ‘Mission: Get Ahmed into the NFL,'” Gigi said from her apartment in Cairo.
“But it’s all surreal because who would’ve thought that Ahmed would be great at being a defensive lineman in American football when literally seven years ago, he was just sitting on the balcony praying that someone would … get him out of this misery.”
THE CULTURE SHOCK was real for Hassanein when he moved in with Besch in August 2018.
Everything from the food to the language to school was different. And then there was football.
All Hassanein knew about the sport was what Besch had posted on social media, most recently playing in a second-tier Austrian league from March to June 2018, just before he visited Egypt.
“People run and hit each other,” Hassanein recalled. “That’s all I know.”
When Hassanein arrived in California, Besch gave him a crash course, explaining everything from how to put on his pads, helmet and mouth guard to the sport’s rules.
“Everything from line of scrimmage to downs to your role and responsibility on the defense,” Besch said. “And I don’t think everything was explained explicitly because you don’t ever go back and explain the X’s and O’s in high school, right?”
Hassanein didn’t know how to get in a stance or how to catch a ball, said Mitch Olson, Hassanein’s head coach at Loara. His school’s football program was in one of the lower levels in California and didn’t have the resources other schools around them had. Each coach was in charge of multiple positions, and most of the kids didn’t play football before ninth grade because there wasn’t a youth program in the district.
“It’s like the kid got pulled off of Mars and started playing football,” Olson said.
Still, Olson saw the potential in the 16-year-old sophomore. He lined up Hassanein, then 6-foot-1 and 210 pounds, at defensive tackle on the junior varsity team for the first game of the season before moving him up to varsity. It was, by all accounts, an experiment.
Hassanein had at least one penalty every game because of his unfamiliarity with the rules. There was a game in which he grabbed a quarterback’s face mask to bring him down and another in which he tripped the quarterback, who was about to scramble by him. He remembered throwing players, kicking people and flipping them like in jiujitsu.
“I was out there just doing whatever,” Hassanein said. “I was just out there being physical. See ball, get ball.”
In fall 2018, Hassanein was watching highlights of former Los Angeles Rams defensive tackle Aaron Donald.
“What high school does he go to?” Hassanein asked his brother.
“And he was like, ‘Bro, that’s the NFL, that’s the National Football League.’ I was like, ‘OK, I want to go there.’ And he was like, ‘Bro, you know you don’t have a D-line coach at your high school and you don’t have a sled?'”
It didn’t matter to Hassanein. After talking to his brother and Olson, and watching videos, he devised a plan: Hassanein began waking up at 5 a.m. every day to work out before school. After school, he’d go to practice — either football or basketball, depending on the season — and then go back to the gym for three to four hours a night.
Everything started to click for Hassanein midway through his sophomore season.
The key, Besch, Olson and defensive coordinator Jonathan Rangel decided, was to let Hassanein’s natural strength make up for whatever technique he lacked. It worked.
Eventually, Besch started taking Hassanein to camps, where he was facing — and outplaying — prospects from top high school programs around Southern California such as St. John Bosco and Mater Dei. The night before one camp, Hassanein studied pass-rush moves on YouTube and implemented them the next day.
Colleges noticed the three-star pass rusher. On Aug. 27, 2020, as his senior season was postponed until the spring because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Hassanein received a direct message from Spencer Danielson, now Boise State’s head coach, who was then coaching the defensive line. He loved Hassanein’s film.
Hassanein told his brother, who couldn’t believe it. Besch played football with Danielson at Azusa Pacific University. Hassanein relayed that information to Danielson, and they hopped on a Zoom call to explain the situation.
Hassanein had scholarship offers from Fresno State, Duke, Kansas and Colorado before eventually choosing Boise State.
Had Hassanein’s life followed his initial plan of going to military school, looking back, he thought he’d return to Egypt after four years. Instead, he was living out a dream he never knew he had.
“It meant the world to me that somebody believed, and my brother always believed in me, but it gave me confirmation that I can do this,” Hassanein said. “I took it as a challenge because I had a lot of family members say, ‘You’re going to come back in two weeks. You’re never going to succeed. You can’t even speak English. How the hell are you going to play football?’
“And I really made it. I took it as, ‘OK, watch this.'”
DANIELSON STOOD OUTSIDE Boise State’s football facility on a June morning in 2021 with a hope and a prayer.
Because of COVID-19 restrictions, neither Danielson nor any of his coaches were able to recruit Hassanein in person, so the first time they met him was when he stepped out of the car that day. Sitting in the back of Danielson’s mind was the fact that Besch was 5-foot-8, 150 pounds in college.
“I’m waiting for him at the front of the facility like, ‘Please be 6-3. Please be 6-3,'” Danielson recalled to ESPN. “If he pops out and he’s 5-9 and Cory got me, I’m going to be really hot.
“And he pops out and he just looks like a Greek god. I’m like, ‘Yes.'”
His first year on campus, Hassanein looked like some of the Broncos’ juniors and was lifting more weight than a number of the upperclassmen, Boise State edge coach Jabril Frazier said.
From a football standpoint, Hassanein was very much a freshman.
“He didn’t know what was going on,” Frazier said. “But he played at a high level.”
Danielson’s way of rectifying that was with his “Football School,” a weeklong program leading into fall camp for all of Boise State’s incoming freshmen. It covered everything from the width of the field — 53.3 yards — to the verbiage Boise State’s coaches prefer to the fundamentals of tackling to A, B and C gaps.
For Hassanein, college football was an entirely new game. In high school, he relied on his natural ability to dominate. Not so much in college. He had to account for how the offensive lineman across from him lined up and blocked in every possible scenario and what kind of offense he was facing on a weekly basis.
It was essentially Football 101 for Hassanein.
“It was really eye-opening,” he said.
In 20 games over his first two seasons, he had two sacks. Then, going into his junior year in 2023, it all clicked. Hassanein finished with 12.5 sacks and was mentioned among the nation’s best pass rushers.
Heading into his senior season, he was coming off labrum surgery and spent the spring watching his own film and breaking down his games while he rehabbed. Hassanein had 9.5 sacks in 2024, giving him 24 for his career, the fourth most in school history.
“I currently have him projected as a late fifth- to early sixth-round pick as teams are always looking for pass-rush help,” ESPN draft analyst Jordan Reid said. “Hassanein will likely be a part of special teams early on during his career while he searches to earn a role as a contributor on defense.”
Hassanein is on the verge of making international history. When he does, it will be an emotional moment for those who helped him on the journey.
“The journey that dude made and the guts that he had to do, the things that he did to get to where he is, it is storybook, man,” Olson said. “It really is. It’s a frigging movie.”
He knows he’s not the biggest or quickest, but he says he thinks his strength will help him become a disruptive pass rusher at the next level.
Danielson described Hassanein as “one of the most violent run defenders we’ve ever had here,” pointing to the Broncos’ first defensive play of the Fiesta Bowl against Penn State.
It was first-and-10 from the Nittany Lions’ 28-yard line when Penn State tight end Tyler Warren went in motion from left to right, overloading the side closest to Hassanein. It was a run and, with a running start, Hassanein bulldozed Warren back four yards, throwing him to the ground in the process.
To Danielson, that play is everything teams need to know about Hassanein.
“Once he gets there, he’s going to be all over the coaches about being better, getting better, getting help,” Frazier said. “Give him a year to two years in the NFL and you’ll be hearing his name a lot.”
As the defending Presidents’ Trophy winners, the New York Rangers were envisioned as a playoff team again in 2024-25. As the team on top of the league standings in early December, similar words could be written about the Minnesota Wild.
And yet, heading into Wednesday night’s matchup between the clubs (7 p.m. ET, ESPN+), nothing is certain about either team’s playoff chances after the pair has gone 8-9-3 in the past 10 games apiece.
The Wild enter the game in a playoff position, and have a 91.0% chance to make the playoffs per Stathletes. A key part of that is the team’s remaining strength of schedule; their remaining opponents have a 46.0% winning percentage, which is the second-easiest path. (Only the New Jersey Devils face a weaker slate in the final stretch.)
Compare that to the Rangers, who have a 27.3% chance, and will begin this game on the outside looking in. New York’s remaining slate is considerably more difficult; a 54.1% opponents’ winning percentage ranks as the second toughest, behind only the Detroit Red Wings.
If the Wild qualify as the first wild card, their likely first-round opponent is the Vegas Golden Knights; if they land in the second wild-card position, their likely opponent is the Winnipeg Jets. Unfortunately, Minnesota went 0-3 against both teams this season.
The Rangers’ more likely outcome as a playoff entrant is as the second wild card, which earns them a matchup against the Washington Capitals; the Caps have won all three games against New York this season. The Rangers could wind up as the first wild card, earning a matchup against the Atlantic Division champ. They went 1-2 against the Toronto Maple Leafs, 0-2 against the Florida Panthers (with one more game coming up on April 14), and 0-1 against the Tampa Bay Lightning (with games coming up on April 7 and April 17).
So, the future isn’t blindingly bright in the playoffs for these teams. But all you need is a ticket in, and unexpected things can happen!
There are just over two weeks left until the season’s end on April 17, and we’ll help you track it all with the NHL playoff watch. As we traverse the final stretch, we’ll provide details on all the playoff races, along with the teams jockeying for position in the 2025 NHL draft lottery.
Note: Playoff chances are via Stathletes.
Jump ahead:
Current playoff matchups
Today’s schedule
Yesterday’s scores
Expanded standings
Race for No. 1 pick
Current playoff matchups
Eastern Conference
A1 Toronto Maple Leafs vs. WC1 Ottawa Senators
A2 Tampa Bay Lightning vs. A3 Florida Panthers
M1 Washington Capitals vs. WC2 Montreal Canadiens
M2 Carolina Hurricanes vs. M3 New Jersey Devils
Western Conference
C1 Winnipeg Jets vs. WC2 Minnesota Wild
C2 Dallas Stars vs. C3 Colorado Avalanche
P1 Vegas Golden Knights vs. WC1 St. Louis Blues
P2 Los Angeles Kings vs. P3 Edmonton Oilers
Wednesday’s games
Note: All times ET. All games not on TNT or NHL Network are available to stream on ESPN+ (local blackout restrictions apply).
Minnesota Wild at New York Rangers, 7 p.m.
Washington Capitals at Carolina Hurricanes, 7 p.m. (TNT)
Florida Panthers at Toronto Maple Leafs, 7:30 p.m.
Colorado Avalanche at Chicago Blackhawks, 9:30 p.m. (TNT)
Seattle Kraken at Vancouver Canucks, 10:30 p.m.
Tuesday’s scoreboard
Washington Capitals 4, Boston Bruins 3
Montreal Canadiens 3, Florida Panthers 2 (OT)
Buffalo Sabres 5, Ottawa Senators 2
Columbus Blue Jackets 8, Nashville Predators 4
Tampa Bay Lightning 4, New York Islanders 1
St. Louis Blues 2, Detroit Red Wings 1 (OT)
Utah Hockey Club 3, Calgary Flames 1
Edmonton Oilers 3, Vegas Golden Knights 2
Anaheim Ducks 4, San Jose Sharks 3 (SO)
Los Angeles Kings 4, Winnipeg Jets 1
Expanded standings
Atlantic Division
Points: 94
Regulation wins: 37
Playoff position: A1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 104.1
Next game: vs. FLA (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 93
Regulation wins: 38
Playoff position: A2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 103.1
Next game: @ OTT (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 92
Regulation wins: 35
Playoff position: A3
Games left: 8
Points pace: 102.0
Next game: @ TOR (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 84
Regulation wins: 30
Playoff position: WC1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 93.1
Next game: vs. TB (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.8%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 79
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: WC2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 87.5
Next game: vs. BOS (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 44.7%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 75
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 83.1
Next game: vs. CAR (Friday)
Playoff chances: 2.9%
Tragic number: 13
Points: 70
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 77.6
Next game: vs. TB (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 0.1%
Tragic number: 8
Points: 69
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 75.4
Next game: @ MTL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0.1%
Tragic number: 5
Metro Division
Points: 105
Regulation wins: 41
Playoff position: M1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 116.4
Next game: @ CAR (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 94
Regulation wins: 40
Playoff position: M2
Games left: 9
Points pace: 105.6
Next game: vs. WSH (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 87
Regulation wins: 35
Playoff position: M3
Games left: 6
Points pace: 93.9
Next game: vs. NYR (Saturday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 77
Regulation wins: 24
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 9
Points pace: 86.5
Next game: vs. COL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 16.7%
Tragic number: 17
Points: 77
Regulation wins: 32
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 85.3
Next game: vs. MIN (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 27.3%
Tragic number: 15
Points: 74
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 82
Next game: vs. MIN (Friday)
Playoff chances: 8.7%
Tragic number: 12
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 77.6
Next game: @ STL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0.1%
Tragic number: 7
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 6
Points pace: 76.6
Next game: @ MTL (Saturday)
Playoff chances: ~0%
Tragic number: 5
Central Division
Points: 106
Regulation wins: 40
Playoff position: C1
Games left: 7
Points pace: 115.9
Next game: @ VGK (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 102
Regulation wins: 40
Playoff position: C2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 113.0
Next game: vs. NSH (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 94
Regulation wins: 38
Playoff position: C3
Games left: 7
Points pace: 102.8
Next game: @ CHI (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 89
Regulation wins: 30
Playoff position: WC1
Games left: 6
Points pace: 96.0
Next game: vs. PIT (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 92.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 88
Regulation wins: 33
Playoff position: WC2
Games left: 7
Points pace: 96.2
Next game: @ NYR (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 91%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 80
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 87.5
Next game: vs. LA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0.4%
Tragic number: 7
Points: 62
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 67.8
Next game: @ DAL (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E
Points: 51
Regulation wins: 18
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 56.5
Next game: vs. COL (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E
Pacific Division
Points: 98
Regulation wins: 42
Playoff position: P1
Games left: 8
Points pace: 108.6
Next game: vs. WPG (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 100%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 93
Regulation wins: 37
Playoff position: P3
Games left: 8
Points pace: 103.1
Next game: @ UTA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.9%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 91
Regulation wins: 31
Playoff position: P2
Games left: 8
Points pace: 100.8
Next game: @ SJ (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 99.1%
Tragic number: N/A
Points: 82
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 90.9
Next game: vs. ANA (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 13.9%
Tragic number: 11
Points: 81
Regulation wins: 26
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 89.8
Next game: vs. SEA (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 2.7%
Tragic number: 10
Points: 74
Regulation wins: 23
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 82.0
Next game: @ CGY (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: 3
Points: 68
Regulation wins: 25
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 7
Points pace: 74.3
Next game: @ VAN (Wednesday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E
Points: 50
Regulation wins: 14
Playoff position: N/A
Games left: 8
Points pace: 55.4
Next game: vs. EDM (Thursday)
Playoff chances: 0%
Tragic number: E
Note: An “x” means that the team has clinched a playoff berth. An “e” means that the team has been eliminated from playoff contention.
Race for the No. 1 pick
The NHL uses a draft lottery to determine the order of the first round, so the team that finishes in last place is not guaranteed the No. 1 selection. As of 2021, a team can move up a maximum of 10 spots if it wins the lottery, so only 11 teams are eligible for the No. 1 pick. Full details on the process are here. Matthew Schaefer, a defenseman for the OHL’s Erie Otters, is No. 1 on the draft board.
Points: 50
Regulation wins: 14
Points: 51
Regulation wins: 18
Points: 62
Regulation wins: 23
Points: 68
Regulation wins: 25
Points: 70
Regulation wins: 26
Points: 69
Regulation wins: 23
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20
Points: 71
Regulation wins: 20
Points: 74
Regulation wins: 23
Points: 74
Regulation wins: 25
Points: 75
Regulation wins: 26
Points: 77
Regulation wins: 32
Points: 77
Regulation wins: 24
Points: 80
Regulation wins: 26
Points: 81
Regulation wins: 26
Points: 82
Regulation wins: 26
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