Future Goals Hockey Scholar: the hockey STEM game for grades 4 to 7
Future Goals Hockey Scholar was a free STEM program for grades four to seven that used a simulated hockey season to teach math and science. Its address now presents a career-readiness program under the Future Goals name.
Updated
What Future Goals Hockey Scholar was
Future Goals - Hockey Scholar Program combined a serious game with an online STEM curriculum. The Game Agency built it in partnership with Washington, D.C.-based EverFi to show students where math and science appear in real life, with hockey as the vehicle.
The program started from a workforce argument made by its developers: the supply of workers with strong STEM skills in the United States has lagged behind demand, and many teenagers lose interest in these subjects by the tenth grade. Teachers could pull in what students already like outside class, and the program picked video games and sports.
Students in grades four through seven managed a favorite hockey team through a simulated season and worked with real hockey stars, applying math and science in pursuit of the Stanley Cup.
What students did in it
Twelve learning modules carried the content. They covered data analysis, geometry, life science and physical science, always through hockey examples such as the dynamics of the ice surface, equipment design and athletic performance.
The modules were built around simulations in which a student changes a variable and watches the result. In an engineering module, for example, a student adjusts the radius of hollow, which is how a skate blade is sharpened, then collects and graphs data to find how it relates to a player's stopping speed. A mostly visual interface let players apply a concept right after learning it, which avoided drills of bare numbers.
In 2017 the program reported more than 930,000 students in 9,300 schools across the United States and Canada after its launch in September 2014, with a target of one million students within three years. It was free for elementary and middle schools in North America.
What is true today
The program's address, futuregoals.nhl.com, is online in November 2026. The front page is titled Future Goals: Hockey Careers Beyond the Ice. It describes a career-readiness program with interactive lessons inspired by careers in professional hockey, launched by the NHL and the NHL Players' Association in partnership with EverFi.
The page speaks of middle school students, lets teachers sign up for a classroom version, and lets administrators bring the program to a school or district. It does not mention Hockey Scholar, a module count or a price. Whether the 2017 STEM game is still part of it is therefore not confirmed, and the entry is marked unconfirmed.
Questions about Future Goals Hockey Scholar
Is Future Goals Hockey Scholar still offered?
That could not be confirmed. The Future Goals website is online, but it presents a career program and does not mention Hockey Scholar.
Who created Future Goals Hockey Scholar?
The Game Agency created it in partnership with EverFi. The program's current page names the NHL and the NHL Players' Association as its launch partners with EverFi.
What grades was Future Goals Hockey Scholar made for?
Grades four through seven. Its 12 modules covered data analysis, geometry, life science and physical science.