Get Ready for the NHL "Inside Out Classic" Altcast This Weekend

"Let's Play Some Hockey!" It's not just a phrase, but actually the first spoken dialogue in the hugely successful Inside Out 2 from Pixar Animation Studios. The film, a follow up to the original Inside Out from 2015, sees the young Riley (and all the emotions that live inside her head) age up toward high school with her friends and family but opens up with her playing (and scoring a winning goal) in a championship hockey game.

While yes, the films are primarily about the shifting emotions we encounter in our lives and our ever changing personalities, Hockey does play a big part in them. The original used Hockey as a bit of a backdrop for her homesickness as she moved to San Francisco with her family - while inside her mind, Sadness stepped up more than before in her youth. As we learn more about the inside of Riley's mind, we also learn about her "personality islands," one of which is Hockey island, making up a key component of who Riley is. While we see Riley play in the original film - with a memory of the game being a key moment when Joy realizes that Sadness is important - it's really Inside Out 2 that goes all in and makes Hockey a key part of the plot. Not only do we open on the hockey game and learn all about Riley and how she has aged since the first film, she also goes to a Hockey camp where she has some moments where she must decide between the friends of her past and the potential friends of the future.

All of this happens while new emotions have been introduced, including Anxiety, who take control of Riley's mind, including a climactic moment during a big hockey game - showing how Joy once piloted Riley making the game fun, compared to now Anxiety at the helm, making the game something more than simply a playful experience - until Joy takes over again.

That's why Inside Out is a great choice to present a new version of a hockey altcast this year, taking hockey fans directly to Hockey Island inside Riley's mind, where all the emotions are waiting to play the big game. ESPN, Disney, Pixar and the National Hockey League (NHL) are teaming up to bring fans Inside Out Classic, a real-time, animated NHL telecast featuring the Washington Capitals vs. New York Rangers this weekend on Disney+, Disney Channel, and Disney XD, who will present the real-time, animated telecast, while the traditional telecast will be available on ESPN. 

Inside Out Classic will feature virtually created real-time animation of the action between the Washington Capitals and the New York Rangers modeled after characters on Pixar Animation Studios' award-winning franchise, with several of the cast members from the films returning for the event. The animated presentation will feature Phyllis Smith (Sadness), Lewis Black (Anger), Tony Hale (Fear), and Maya Hawke (Anxiety). They will be alongside animated versions of the real-time players on both teams, thanks to a blend of various technologies. NHL EDGE positional data (NHL Puck and Player Tracking) and Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations’ optical tracking are working together to create more dynamic player and character movement to help fans better visualize detailed limb and stick movement and mannerisms in the real-time animated game. With this tech, Riley's emotions will be skating alongside the real players who's motions and movements are transferred into the Inside Out Classic as the real game is played, thanks Sony’s Beyond Sports proprietary virtual recreation technology, which transforms tracking data from fellow Sony’s Hawk-Eye Innovations into the animated action on the ice.

Sony’s Beyond Sports has their own Virtual Commentator technology, which will allow the ESPN commentators calling the action on the animated telecast - in this case,  Drew Carter, Kevin Weekes and Arda Öcal – to wear virtual reality headsets for motion capture, immersing them in the animated environment of Hockey Island inside Riley’s Mind, getting in on the fun.

This isn't the first venture that we've seen in terms of an altcast with the NHL. For two consecutive years, the world of the hit Disney Channel animated series, Big City Greens, hit the ice in the show's landmark Times Circle with the NHL Big City Greens Classic. The following year, the technology improved and the virtual location was changed - moving the game in front of the Greens' home with the NHL Big City Greens Classic 2.

ESPN, Disney, Sony’s Beyond Sports, and multiple league partners have collaborated on several animated alternate presentations. The NFL has partnered on multiple Funday Football presentations, including characters from Toy Story, Monsters Inc., and The Simpsons, powered by the NFL’s Next Gen Stats. The NBA has also joined in with Dunk the Halls, featuring Disney’s popular characters, and that second NHL Big City Greens Classic in 2024.

This year's Inside Out Classic is part of an expanded agreement with Sony's Beyond Sports and ESPN that will produce animated telecasts for NFL, NHL, NBA, and WNBA games across The Walt Disney Company and ESPN platforms during the 2025-26 season. More alternate telecasts are planned for the 2026-27 sports calendar year.

It all started with that first one though in 2023, the first NHL Big City Greens Classic. It's also fun to note that that first NHL Altcast saw the Washington Capitals vs. The New York Rangers, just like we're about to see again with the Inside Out Classic this weekend.

Inside Out Classic will be available internationally on Disney+ in Latin America, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand, South Africa (live, no replay), and Europe. Video on demand will also be available in most markets, including the United States and its territories, and on Disney+ shortly after the real-time telecast. 

Inside Out Classic, featuring the Washington Capitals vs. New York Rangers will air live on Sunday, April 5 at 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+, Disney+, Disney Channel, and Disney XD, who will present the real-time, animated telecast, while the traditional telecast will be available on ESPN.