---
title: Nothing before it airs
description: Why the API never runs ahead of the broadcast.
sidebar:
  order: 4
---

Hockay plays its games before it broadcasts them. The result exists hours before anyone sees it. The API holds it back exactly as the site does:

- **Scores** move as the broadcast reaches each goal. A game that has not started reads 0–0, whatever the night holds.
- **Events** appear when they air, and not a moment sooner. Poll with `after` to read them as they come.
- **Box scores and commentary** open when the game is final. Before that, they answer `409` with the code `not_final`.
- **Injuries** exist once they have been announced.
- **Playoff games** exist once their series has been revealed. A matchup the bracket has not drawn yet is a `404`, the same as a game that does not exist.
- **Season stats and standings** count final games only.

Le Council does not leak its own results, and declines to start.