The Challenge: Making Multi-Camera Hockey Broadcasts Work with Student Crews
The moment that changed everything: KeepTheScore's professional goal animations brought energy to the broadcast
Running a multi-camera hockey broadcast with live commentators, instant ads, animated transitions, and a fully dynamic scoreboard is a serious technical challenge — especially when the production must be assembled from consumer-grade gear, student crews, and last-minute setups.
For an 18-year-old student media team in the Czech Republic, this challenge became their reality. Over the last year, they experimented with different scoreboard solutions, including HTML overlays from online sources and those they built themselves. While they worked, they always felt like a compromise: either they lacked good animations, had poor customization, or were too fragile to trust during a real match.
"We wanted our broadcasts to feel professional," explains the student production lead. "But our scoreboard was holding us back. It was the weakest part of our whole setup."
Previous Setup: Functional but Frustrating
Last year, their scoreboard was built as a custom HTML browser source inside OBS. On paper, this seemed like an ideal solution — unlimited flexibility, full control, and easy integration. But in practice, they ran into several critical problems:
1. No Reliable Goal Animations
Hockey broadcasts feel incomplete without proper goal animations — fast, energetic, visible, and synchronized with the scoreboard change. Their old HTML implementation simply couldn't handle animated events smoothly.
"Feedback from viewers confirmed this: the goals didn't 'pop,' and the scoreboard lacked personality," the team noted.
2. Lack of Customization
Changing colors, icons, or layout often meant editing the HTML/CSS directly. Doing this minutes before a match was stressful, and once impossible.
They wanted:
- Faster color changes
- Drag-and-drop logo management
- Clean presets
- Instant visual updates
"With the old system, everything required manual editing or even refreshing a browser source, which isn't ideal when being live."
3. Stability Problems
Different systems behaved differently:
- Sometimes the scoreboard loaded instantly
- Sometimes it froze
- Sometimes OBS refused to refresh until they re-added the source
"When streaming in a real stadium environment, with pressure and crowds, the last thing you want is a scoreboard that might break because a browser source doesn't reload properly."
4. Limited Operator-Friendly Controls
The person updating the scoreboard shouldn't have to know OBS, HTML, or CSS. Their old setup forced the scorekeeper to use keyboard shortcuts while one additional person who understood the code had to be there as well.
"They kept asking whether it updated or just felt lost. Under the stress, they got lost in the code. This was slowing us down."
Why They Chose KeepTheScore
After testing KeepTheScore during one of their internal scrimmages, it was immediately clear: this was the upgrade they needed.
The professional scoreboard overlay that transformed their broadcasts
1. Professional Goal Animations
"This is the number one reason we switched," the team emphasizes.
KeepTheScore has built-in animated goal events that look clean, modern, and intentional. The animations trigger reliably every time, perfectly synchronized with score updates.
"This instantly made our broadcast feel more professional and exciting."
2. Extreme Customization Without Code
Team names, colors, logos, layout — everything can be changed in seconds. This is crucial for tournaments when multiple teams rotate through the day.
The platform lets them:
- Upload logos directly
- Adjust color themes
- Pick layout presets
- Size elements for their graphic design
- Customize fonts
- Tune animations
3. Reliable Browser Source Integration
KeepTheScore worked flawlessly as a browser source in OBS:
- Instant loading
- No freezing
- Refresh on command
"We run two OBS instances: one for the big LED cube in the stadium, and one for the YouTube livestream. KeepTheScore loaded greatly in both — even when running on different specs and different outputs. This was previously impossible for us."
Multi-camera broadcasts with reliable scoreboard integration across different OBS instances
4. Easy Control for Non-Technical Operators
The scoreboard control panel is simple enough that anyone can use it:
- Big buttons
- Clear interface
- Live preview
- Zero OBS knowledge required
"This is extremely valuable because we were able to put a person in charge of this, who was without any further knowledge capable of operating the scoreboard. It got messy when the scorekeeper got lost a few times, but thanks to the ability to enter the time manually, she was able to get it right as soon as possible."
The intuitive control panel that enables non-technical students to operate professional broadcasts
The Results: A Complete Transformation
Switching to KeepTheScore completely transformed the quality and reliability of their hockey broadcasts. What used to be the weakest point of their pipeline — the scoreboard — is now one of the strongest.
"The platform solved the exact problems we struggled with for a last year," the team reports.
Immediate Impact
- Professional appearance: Goal animations and smooth transitions elevated the production value
- Faster setup: What used to take 30+ minutes of code tweaking now takes seconds
- Reduced stress: No more worrying about browser sources freezing during crucial moments
- Simplified operations: Non-technical students can now run the scoreboard independently
Technical Benefits
The dual OBS setup (one for the stadium LED cube, one for YouTube streaming) works flawlessly with KeepTheScore, something that was "previously impossible" with their HTML solution.
Looking Forward
"Now our streams look more polished, our scorekeeper works faster, and we can focus on the match instead of fighting with our own code," the team concludes.
"KeepTheScore simply fit our workflow perfectly — and it gave our broadcast the professional energy it was missing."
For next year's round, they're looking forward to using this platform again, as well as paying for it, "because it came out handy!"
Key Takeaways
For student media teams:
- Professional tools don't require professional budgets: The right software can transform consumer-grade setups
- Reliability matters more than customization: A scoreboard that works every time beats one with unlimited features that might fail
- Non-technical operators are crucial: Choose tools that anyone can use, not just the coding experts
- Animation and polish matter: Small details like goal animations significantly impact perceived quality
For multi-camera productions:
- Browser source stability is non-negotiable in live environments
- Quick customization between games saves crucial setup time
- Multiple OBS instances require consistent performance across different hardware
- Visual feedback and live preview prevent operator errors
Technical insights that made the difference:
- Built-in animations eliminate the need for complex CSS/JavaScript
- Direct logo uploads remove the friction of last-minute team changes
- Manual time entry provides recovery from operator mistakes
- Simple control panels reduce training time to minutes
Final Thoughts
This Czech high school's experience demonstrates that student broadcasters don't need to compromise on quality. By switching from a custom HTML solution to KeepTheScore, they transformed their biggest weakness into a strength — proving that sometimes the best technical decision is choosing tools that just work.
As they prepare for another season of broadcasts, their advice is clear: "Don't fight with your own code when there's a solution that gives you professional results out of the box."
Ready to upgrade your sports broadcasts? Try KeepTheScore for free and see why student media teams are switching from custom HTML to professional scoreboards.
