Jared Coreau is the Detroit Red Wings’ starting goaltender for the foreseeable future and picked up his first NHL win Friday in place of an injured Jimmy Howard. Coreau’s preparation leading up to his Dec. 3, NHL debut involved the use of the Dynavision D2 neuro-cognitive sports training device.
“We just call it vision training,” Coreau told the Detroit Free Press in September.
Dynavision’s D2, commonly referred to as a lightboard, challenges users to locate and touch raised 3D sensors as they are illuminated. Sixty-four targets oriented in five rings radiating out from the center of a 4 foot by 4 foot black square remain on for preset amounts of time, and can be set to flash red or green.
Coreau uses the D2 to improve his peripheral training, and the rookie said he has cut his reaction time in half since he started training with the lightboard.
“I think if you’re not doing it, you’re behind the game,” Coreau said. “It’s a huge advantage.”
Get The Latest NHL Tech News In Your Inbox!
Coreau credits Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill with introducing him to the technology. The two initially crossed paths while Coreau was playing for the Grand Rapids Griffins in his first professional season. “My first year pro wasn’t very good,” Coreau said, “so Jeff Blashill, he really pushed it.”
Improved peripheral vision and quicker reaction times will keep more pucks from hitting the back of the net, but it also might keep more goaltenders on the ice. Keepers are more likely to swat pucks out of the air before finding themselves concussed.
The D2 is making its way into amateur arenas as well. Beyond pure vision training, high school and college athletes are using lightboards as a component of concussion prevention and recovery protocols.
From 2010 to 2013 the University of Cincinnati Football program incorporated the D2 lightboard into its training regimen and saw concussion rates fall by 80 percent, Dr. Joseph Clark, a professor at the University of Cincinnati Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation Medicine said in a FOXbusiness.com article.
Dynavision’s flagship lightboard is also used for rehabilitation. Its featureset has shown signs of speeding up recovery from brain injuries. Occupational therapist Mary Warren found D2 was uniquely suited “to address visual, cognitive and motor impairment in persons with acquired brain injuries.”
The D2 is used in more than 40 VA Facilities and seven major Military Medical Centers, including Walter Reed and the National Intrepid Center of Excellence, according to a Dynavsion fact sheet.
SportTechie caught up with Dynavision Founder and President Phil Jones in April, to discuss D2 at length.