Matt Prefontaine used his passion for hockey and technology to land a career in the NHL.
Prefontaine, a product of Winnipeg, Manitoba, recently completed his 10th season with the Winnipeg Jets as Video and Analytics Coach. In this role, Prefontaine is responsible for all the video needs of the Jets coaching staff, including pre-scouting upcoming opponents, analyzing game tape and producing game-day preparation videos.
NHL teams have insane schedules, as Prefontaine explains. Take December 2022, for example, when the Jets played 16 games, including three sets of back-to-back games, taking 10 flights, with only two days off.
Time is limited, so Prefontaine uses technology to help the Jets achieve their goals. His video & data cycle includes acquiring, processing, analyzing and distributing.
“I think all of us can agree, it would be great to do more with the time that you have. For me, the ticket there is to use technology to do it.”
During this highly educational 26-minute TCS Live presentation, Prefontaine examines the Jets tech stack, explains how he performs a pre-scout and why naming conventions help with efficiency, gets into coding and scripting, before explaining how to integrate data & video for seamless distribution.
Noteworthy timestamps:
- 0:50 Prefontaine's career path
- 2:40 The power of technology
- 3:50 NHL work Sshedule
- 5:50 Video and Data Cycle
- 7:10 The technology of video coach
- 10:00 Process for prescouting
- 13:40 Breaking down the game for coaches with codes
- 17:30 Analyzing video
- 19:00 Processing and analyzing data
- 20:30 Using remote video and meetings
