HockeyRink: A Dataset for Precise Ice Hockey Rink Keypoint Mapping and Analytics

Precise mapping of ice hockey rinks is critical for applications such as player tracking, game strategy analysis, and broadcast enhancements. Traditional methods often rely on manual annotations or simplistic models that fail to account for the rink's complex geometry and dynamic in-game conditions. To address these limitations, we present HockeyRink, a novel dataset comprising 56 meticulously annotated keypoints corresponding to significant landmarks on a standard hockey rink, including face-off dots, goalposts, and blue lines. Leveraging the YOLOv8-Large pose estimation architecture, we adapted the model to treat the rink as a single 'pose' object, enabling accurate keypoint predictions tailored to the nuances of hockey rink imagery. Our dataset, derived from diverse hockey game footage from the Swedish Hockey League (SHL), facilitates applications in homography estimation, 2D/3D scene mapping, and tactical overlays. By detecting and mapping rink keypoints, one can compute precise transformations between the image plane and the rink's physical dimensions, enabling the overlay of player trajectories and tactical insights onto broadcast footage. This work addresses the unique challenges of ice hockey, such as occlusions, rapid camera movements, and varying lighting conditions, and offers a robust foundation for future research and innovation in sports analytics. The HockeyRink dataset and trained model are openly available at: https://huggingface.co/SimulaMet-HOST/HockeyRink.