The National Hockey League will unveil its new website tomorrow, an offering that includes several new rich media and editorial features designed to appeal to dedicated fans.

The most notable change is the addition of GameCenter and GameCenter Live. The former will serve as the landing page for NHL.com on game nights, and will feature real-time statistical updates, highlight videos, game photos, radio feeds from local broadcasters and a user chat function.

GameCenter Live is a subscription service that gives subscribers access to all the features of GameCenter, as well as live video streaming of NHL games.

Andre Mika, senior vice-president and executive in charge of new media for the NHL, said the revamped NHL.com—which also features more blogs, rich media content and regular updates on hockey stories—gives fans a more complete online experience.

“We’ve created an environment that’s pretty active,” said Mika. “We tried to look at every area of the site and improve the user experience.”

Hockey historians, as well as current fans, will enjoy the site’s upgraded archive of information about teams and players from previous NHL eras, added Mika.

“We know hockey fans want to know what’s going on right now, but we also know that hockey fans have a passion for the game that’s like baseball—very stat-driven,” he said. “They want to go back and look at the stats and career of a player from the past, and we’ve made that information much more accessible to fans.”

The NHL has also announced a partnership with Yahoo Sports to implement the league’s first official fantasy pool game. Under the terms of the deal, the NHL will supply video highlights to users who create a hockey pool on the Yahoo Sports site.

When users access their Yahoo NHL pools, they will have the option of viewing highlights from the previous evening’s games. NHL.com and the Yahoo Sports site will link to each other to reinforce the partnership.

The new NHL.com begins beta testing tomorrow, with users having the option of visiting the new site or staying with the previous version. According to Mika, the league expects any problems to be worked out and the new features fully operational by the start of the season in early October.

New York-based Rocket Fuel consulted on design and strategy for the NHL.com relaunch, while the Washington, D.C. office of AKQA handled the implementation of the changes.