My first season with the Bearcats we were only able to call a few select games.  My second season was the 2009-2010 season, which saw an increased workload for me as I called all of the home games and the away game at Miami of Ohio.  This was a fun season where I began to feel more comfortable behind the microphone and help contribute in other ways to help the team.  I was joined only a few times by a color analyst, and you’ll hear injured winger Kyle Fitzpatrick call a game with me on this tape.

This was my third and final season behind the mic as the official voice of the Cincinnati Bearcats Hockey team.  This was the first year of the Tri-State Collegiate Hockey League which meant that for the first time we would have a postseason.  My workload again increased this season as I called every single home and away game of the season for a total of 31 games.  My most proud call was Ray Morris’s overtime game winner against Dayton on October 1st, 2010.  The Bearcats had 19 penalties called on them and still managed to win in OT.  I was also fortunate enough to be able to call my first fight, and goalie fight.  I was told some announcers may never be lucky enough to call a goalie fight, and in just my third season I got to call it.

In addition to calling the games for the Bearcats, I served as one of the voices of the TSCHL playoffs as I called games on FastHockey.com for the playoff games.  My final game was a Bearcat OT loss to the Pittsburgh Panthers that eliminated them from the playoffs.  It was an emotional ending and an experience I’ll never forget.

You can find some of the games on the Bearcats Hockey UStream page.

The spots are written, recorded, and edited by me and get posted between 9-10AM.  The spots feature any important facts, goalscorers, etc… and feature play by play calls from radio broadcasters of the NHL.  Because the spots are between 60 and 120 seconds, I can only feature a few radio calls, so I generally select important milestones, game changing goals and saves, game winning goals, or really exciting and entertaining calls.

Here is an example below:

You can listen to all of my Scoreboards very easily. The link is:

http://downloads.lightning.nhl.com/audio/2011/10/09/lrn/ScoreboardOct09.mp3

All you have to do is change the following:

“2011″ is obviously the year – change that to 2012 for January through season end posts

“10″ is the month – change that for month

“09″ is the day of the month – change that for day

Finally change the filename “ScoreboardOct09″.  ”Scoreboard” remains consistent, just change the abbreviation and date.  All single digit days have 0 in front of them.

My supervisor Matt Sammon did these at the beginning of the year but gave me the responsibility beginning on October 24th. The spots are written, recorded, and edited by me and get posted between 1-4PM.  The spots feature any important facts, goalscorers, trends, etc… I utilize written NHL previews, as well as the NHL record book and team media guides to highlight important events, milestones, matchups, and trends.

Here is an example below:

You can listen to all of my Schedules very easily. The link is:

http://downloads.lightning.nhl.com/audio/2011/10/24/lrn/ScheduleOct24.mp3

All you have to do is change the following:

“2011″ is obviously the year – change that to 2012 for January through season end posts

“10″ is the month – change that for month

“24″ is the day of the month – change that for day

Finally change the filename “ScheduleOct24″.  ”Schedule” remains consistent, just change the abbreviation and date.  All single digit days have 0 in front of them.

These are every interview I conducted in the 2011-2012 season except for our first two games of the year against Florida and the New York Islanders.  My personal favorites include Adam Hall, Teemu Selanne, George Parros, Jarome Iginla, and David Desharnais

* – a media scrum featuring only questions asked by me

Luke Adam, Buffalo Sabres, Forward*

Martin Biron, New York Rangers, Goaltender

Bruce Boudreau, Anaheim Ducks, Coach*

Martin Brodeur, New Jersey Devils, Goaltender*

Chris Butler, Calgary Flames, Defenseman

Jason Chimera, Washington Capitals, Forward*

Brett Connolly, Tampa Bay Lightning, Forward

Matt Cooke, Pittsburgh Penguins, Forward*

David Desharnais, Montreal Canadiens, Forward

Drew Doughty, Los Angeles Kings, Defenseman*

Nick Foligno, Ottawa Senators, Forward*

Jason Garrison, Florida Panthers, Forward

Paul Gaustad, Buffalo Sabres, Forward*

Bruno Gervais, Tampa Bay Lightning, Defenseman

Matt Gilroy, Tampa Bay Lightning, Defenseman

Claude Giroux, Philadelphia Flyers, Forward

Tanner Glass, Winnipeg Jets, Forward

Carl Gunnarsson, Toronto Maple Leafs, Defenseman

Adam Hall, Tampa Bay Lightning, Forward

Dale Hunter, Washington Capitals, Coach* (Jan 31)

Dale Hunter, Washington Capitals, Coach* (Feb 18)

Jarome Iginla, Calgary Flames, Forward

Evander Kane, Winnipeg Jets, Forward

Saku Koivu, Anaheim Ducks, Forward

Andrew Laad, Winnipeg Jets, Forward*

Jamie McBain, Carolina Hurricanes, Defenseman

Claude Noel, Winnipeg Jets, Head Coach*

Zach Parise, New Jersey Devils, Forward*

George Parros, Anaheim Ducks, Forward

Mathieu Perrault, Washington Capitals, Forward

Jason Pomminville, Buffalo Sabres, Forward

Tommy Pyatt, Tampa Bay Lightning, Forward (Dec 29)

Tommy Pyatt, Tampa Bay Lightning, Forward (Feb 01)

Matt Read, Philadelphia Flyers, Forward

Mike Richards, Los Angeles Kings, Forward*

Lindy Ruff, Buffalo Sabres, Head Coach*

Jordan Staal, Pittsburgh Penguins, Forward*

Brayden Schenn, Philadelphia Flyers, Forward*

Luke Schenn, Toronto Maple Leafs, Defenseman*

Teemu Selanne, Anaheim Ducks, Forward

Petr Sykora, New Jersey Devils, Forward*

Maxime Talbot, Philadelphia Flyers, Forward*

Kyle Turris, Ottawa Senators, Forward

Thomas Vanek, Buffalo Sabres, Forward*

Jacob Voracek, Philadelphia Flyers, Forward

Dennis Wideman, Washington Capitals, Defenseman

Current Lightning Owner Mr. Jeffrey Vinik unveils a Statue built to honor Lighning Founder Phil Esposito

Phil Esposito is not just a Hockey Hall of Famer, one of the greatest players to play the game, a man that slayed the Soviets and speaks his mind.  He is also the founder of the Tampa Bay Lightning and currently holds the Color Analyst position next to Dave Mishkin on the Lightning Radio Network.

On December 31, 2011 the Lightning hosted the Carolina Hurricanes in a game that saw the building renamed to The Tampa Bay Times Forum (from the St. Pete Times Forum) and also saw Mr. Esposito honored with a statue out on the plaza in front of the building.  Lightning Radio got the exclusive interview with Esposito about the statue, his thoughts regarding the new management and ownership, as well as how he impacted the game of hockey while wearing a business suit.

Take a listen to the interview, which happened during the 3rd period (you’ll notice a few goals were scored!) from his private suite he shared with family and friends.

Phil Esposito Interview – 5:43

This week, Lightning Radio introduces our intern Brandon Kisker. You’ve heard Brandon on our daily Scoreboard in a Flash and Schedule in a Flash updates. Now he sits down with Lightning defenseman Brett Clark, a 15-year pro hockey veteran who skates in his 600th NHL game Thursday against San Jose. Clark’s 9-year-old son Cail is skating in his father’s footsteps, and the elder Clark discusses with Brandon what it’s like to have a child playing the sport he makes a living off of while offering advice to those parents looking to get their kids involved in youth sports. You can listen to the interview in its entirety here.

Brett Clark may have been born to play professional hockey, but he has a job far more important than his job on the ice.  Brett is a parent of two young children, son Cail and daughter Ava.  Cail, who is turning 9 this year, can be found running around with other players children on gamedays, but he can also be found on the ice any chance he gets. “With me being at the rink everyday and practices, he’d come to the rink when I was in Hershey, and he’d start picking up his stick, and everything just kind of fell from there,” says Clark.  “He wanted to come on the ice all the time.” Cail doesn’t need motivation to get out on the ice. He wants it as Brett explains with a few chuckles and a giant smile.  “He loves going out there and playing, and as long as he’s having fun, that’s all I’m worried about.”

Youth hockey is supposed to be about fun but it’s also about development.  When Brett was growing up he had the luxury of having parents that ran a little rink in Wapella, Saskatchewan (population 408),  and he’d be out on the ice four or five times a week, sometimes even everyday.  That’s quite a bit different from how things run in the Tampa Bay area, a population over 2.5 million. “It doesn’t matter where you go for hockey, whether it’s small towns, big cities, the fundamentals are still the same.” The fundamentals may be the same regardless of where you learn the game, but learning in a big city with only four rinks (not counting the Tampa Bay Times Forum) is indeed a challenge. “Kids just don’t get that amount of ice time.  There’s a lot of adult hockey and a lot of stuff going on, and not a huge amount of rinks right now.  I think that’s the biggest difference I know, just the amount of time I spent on the ice.  A lot of time you don’t get that opportunity down here.”

Brett explained that the difference in ice time does not hurt Cail’s development, but that it’s just different.  Brett would be on the ice daily as a child while Cail has to take what he can get now. “There are a lot of good programs around here in Florida, and all the kids I watch from the start of the year to the end of the year are developing and getting better, and as a parent and coach that’s all you’re looking for at this age.”

Another unfortunate fact is because of Brett’s occupation, he doesn’t get the chance to watch his son play too often, but when he does, sometimes a group of the players go and watch Cail play a game or practice.  Brett is sure to let Cail develop naturally and not complicate the game by sharing his professional expertise and knowledge of the game unless Cail asks. “I don’t want to push him to hard because I don’t want to push him away from loving something he enjoys to do.”

In fact Cail is starting baseball this year and Brett explains that it’s merely to let his mind drift away from his focus on hockey and to let him know there are other things out there. I’m not a parent but I can respect Brett’s mentality of not pushing Cail too hard and letting him develop his own interests and passions.   Throughout our conversation he mentioned these ideals multiple times and continued to mention that the game should be first and foremost, fun. Sometimes our society can lose sight of that from the professional ranks down to the youth developmental ranks.  The fact is the game has to be fun at all ages, and you have to enjoy what you are doing, because if you are forced into something you don’t want to do, you’ll never be happy.

The game is still fun for Brett in the NHL, and he makes sure to keep the pressure off of Cail, and to make sure he still has a passion and a want to play hockey.  That goes true for all parents regardless of occupation and sport. “Don’t try and live the dream through the kid, let them do what they want and develop the way he’s going to develop,” Brett explains. “Let them develop, go out there and have fun, push them when you need to, but don’t overdo it.”

If your child is interested in playing hockey, find a local sporting good store (even some that sell and take back used equipment…kids grow like weeds) to get your child outfitted and look into youth developmental programs near you. There are plenty of “learn to play” clinics you can put your child in at local rinks, as well as clinics run by the likes of Brian Bradley, Chris Dingman, and other Lightning Alumni, at the Tampa Bay Times Forum.  For more information on those, click over to the Lightning’s Youth Hockey Clinic page.

Want to get your kids involved in hockey? Check out the websites below for local Bay area ice rinks, and get more information and advice on youth hockey from USA Hockey.

Brandon Ice Sports Forum

Clearwater Ice Arena

Ellenton Ice and Sports Complex

Tampa Bay Skating Academy 

This is a demo reel for my sports talk radio experience.  The majority of the demo comes from my show of 3 years, “The Five Minute Major”.  The show aired weekly every Wednesday from 8 to 10PM and rated as one of the most listened to shows on Bearcast.  We were selected as one of the DJ’s of the month in December 2009.  My main cohost of the show was Scott Waldrop, who cohosted the show with me during the entire 3 year run.  Other cohosts included Nick Saul (1 year), Jason Garrison (1 year), and Ben Miller (1 year).

Also included on the demo is a special NFL Draft show we did for the 2010 NFL Draft.  We were each given a division and as a Bills fan, I got the AFC East.

Finally at the end is the radio spot played on Bearcast Radio to promote The Five Minute Major.  We used a bit from the movie Slapshot as well as the old “Brass Bonanza” that the Whalers used to use.

So, I’m not sure how well this will work as my time during games will be stretched thin, but for now, I plan to type up my game notes during each game.

On September 21, the Tampa Bay Lightning hosted the St. Louis Blues in Orlando, Florida at the beautiful home of the Orlando Magic, the Amway Center.  While it was one of the nicest arena’s I have ever been to, I could not say the same about the ice.  As I walked in and looked closely at the ice, you could tell it would be a sloppy game.  The ice had bumps all over the place, and it didn’t help that it was so humid outside.  The staff did the best they could, and while the ice would be rough, it was rough for both teams.

Here are the notes I wrote during the game…if you don’t want the recap, Scroll to the ——- line to read some reaction:

Blues @ Lightning (Orlando) 7PM

Period 1

Starting Goalies:  Dwayne Roloson (TB), Ben Bishop (STL)

Starting for the Lightning

Teddy Purcell – Vincent Lecavalier – Brett Connolly

Eric Brewer  -  Mattias Ohlund

0:22 – TB Penalty to Mattias Ohlund, 2-Min for High Sticking

PK:  Good Kill.  Rollie made good stop but not really tested.  Blair Jones, Tom Pyatt, and Bruno Gervais had two shifts on the PK.  Tyler Johnson, Richard Panik, Vladislav Namestnikov, Michel Ouellet were other forwards with PK time.  Matt Gilroy, Marc-Andre Bergeron, and Mike Vernace other D men with time. Erik Brewer was out for 3 shifts on the PK

Stamkos and St. Louis come out as time expired.

Brett Connolly with a great tip in chance around the 16:40 mark.

Ohlund has gone for a few hits that haven’t connected.

6:41 – STL Penalty to Stefan Della Rovere, 2-Min for Roughing

Purcell – Lecavalier – St. Louis

Brewer – Stamkos

Lecavalier had a great chance but the puck bounced around over his stick (bad ice).

Connolly with another great tip opportunity from Blair Jones after the penalty expired.

Rollie with a GREAT side to side save.  He looked quick and comfortable to make that one look easy.

9:25 – STL Penalty to Patrik Berglund, 2-Min for Cross Checking

Purcell switched with Stamkos and is now playing the point.  Good STL Penalty Kill.

Ouellet nearly had a breakaway, good backcheck by St. Louis.

Uh oh….another high hit by Ohlund on Ryan Reaves….it drew blood.

12:36 TB Penalty to Mattias Ohlund, 5-Min for Elbowing and a Game Misconduct (Served by Teddy Purcell)

Bolts down to 5 on the Blue Line….Brewer, Gervais, Gilroy, Bergeron, Vernace

Every single Bolt had at least 1 PK shift.  Brewer and Gervais with 4 each.  Pyatt, Jones, Panik, Vernace, and Gilroy with 3.  Gonnolly, Johnson, Namestnikov, and Ouellet with 2.  Only defenseman without 2 PK shifts is Bergeron.

15:22 STL Goal on the Power Play Nikita Nikitin from Chris Stewart and Alex Pietrangelo.  Went off Blair Jones’s skate….Rollie had no chance…big change of direction

Brewer is playing the PK extremely well.

19:09 TB Penalty to Richard Panik, 2-Min for High Sticking

Rollie made a KEY shoulder save.

End of Period 1.  STL on the PP for 1:10 in the Second.  

STL 1    TB 0      |  Shots:  STL 6   TB 7

Period 2

Berglund shot from the point hit the post!  Wow, what a shot!

STL with a couple of chances on the PP, Rollie stands strong!

Berglund has been very good early this period.  STL with a ton of pressure on the Bolts.

First Lightning shot of Period 2 happened at the 5:15 mark.

5:45 STL Penalty to B.J. Crombeen, 2-Min for Roughing

Martin St. Louis at the point now with Marc-Andre Bergeron.  First unit got stuffed…great kill.

Phil Esposito (who I’m sitting next to during the broadcast) is way right.  St. Louis is dominating the faceoff dots.

WOW….St. Louis should be up by 2….Vladimir Sobotka missed a wide….and I mean WIDE open net.  Wasn’t Rollie’s fault…took a weird bounce.

10:24 Jaroslav Janus replaces Dwayne Roloson in Net.  Rollie stops 8 of 9.

Janus makes a nice save near immediately.  Looking more confident tonight than he looked in the scrimmage at the Brandon Ice Sports Forum.

12:46 STL Penalty to Barret Jackman, 2-Min for Tripping

Reaves (STL) with a shot off the post. Good PP movement by the Bolts once they settle in, but again, bad ice prevents good passing.

14:54 STL Penalty to Barret Jackman, 2-Min for Slashing

Let he who come out of the box immediately, go right back in!!!

15:30 TB Goal on the Power Play by Marc-Andre Bergeron from Bruno Gervais and Blair Jones.  Bergeron and Gervais played pitch and catch a few times before the blast from the point beat Bishop.  Connolly in front of Bishop applying a great screen (he’s 6’2″) and Gervais dodged a great poke check too!  Got the crowd back in the game.

Chris Stewart is kicking himself because he missed a wide open net with Janus way out of the crease.

16:42  TB Penalty to Michel Ouellet, 2-Min for Slashing

17:55 STL Goal on the Power Play by Ian Cole from Chris Stewart and Evgeny Grachev.  Cole blasted a shot from the point that beat Janus.  In his defense, it looked like Marc-Andre Bergeron may have screened the young goalie.

Lecavalier may have gotten away with a hook.  Bishop in net throws up his hands for the no call. 

End of Period 2.  

STL 2    TB 1      |  Shots:  STL 5 (11)  TB 9 (16)

Impressive Blues thus far have been Ryan Reaves (who was on the receiving end of the Ohlund hit that got him kicked out) and Patrik Berglund.  Norfolk Admiral’s Head Coach John Cooper has commented a few times how impressive Berglund looks.  It’s completely true.  He’s been a force.

Impressive Bolts thus far have been Bruno Gervais and Brett Connolly.  Gervais is playing a ton because the Bolts are down a D-Man.  He’s in that competition to be one of the 8 NHL Ready Defenseman to start the season in the Starting Lineup.  He’s convincing me right now.  He’s been solid defensively and looked good on the PP.  Connolly, the 2010 First Rounder who’s trying to crack the lineup, is looking great.  He’s been all over the place, making great passes, and his play down by the boards has been great.  The screen on the PP Goal was some of his best of the night so far!

Period 3

Chris Stewart with another chance, this time a wrap around…Janus stood strong.  Stewart looks good too tonight.

Bishop bobbles a puck at the other end.  Connolly and Stamkos in on the play.  Nearly a goal, got the fans on their feet.

6:54 STL Penalty to B.J. Crombeen, 2-Min for Hooking

Lecavalier nearly tipped in a Martin St. Louis pass in…Bishop may have made a really nice save…hard to tell if he got a piece of it or if it floated wide.

Janus made a couple great saves to stop any Shorthanded Opportunity.  Made a really nice acrobatic glove save.

Connolly pass to the center is tipped in but the net comes off its moorings as the Bolt Forward went colliding into Bishop…was it after the puck went in…no word yet from the officials….

TB Goal on the Power Play by Cory Conacher from Brett Connolly and Marc-Andre Bergeron.  Missed the time.  Beautiful Pass by Connolly.

Gotta walk across the stadium. Only doing a Post Game Interview if we win.  We’re tied right now…Lets just hope the Bolts get another…

STL Goal by Chris Stewart….don’t know the Assists.

Connolly comes off the ice with a skate problem.  They need to rush him back because he’s been great tonight.

14:04 STL Penalty to Patrik Berglund, 2-Min for Hooking

Connolly gets back out right before the PP starts…he should see some time here.

14:41 TB Goal on the Power Play by Eric Brewer from Steven Stamkos and Vinny Lecavalier.  Connolly would have had PP time but great job by Brewer to tie it up! He’s been really good.

With a few minutes left, the Defenseman look noticeably gassed. Remember there were only 5 guys on the Blue Line since around the midway mark of the First Period.

17:40 STL Goal by Adam Cracknell unassisted.  Cracknell roofed one past Janus.  Brewer was there but looked out of gas.

There it is…the Final, Blues win by a final of 4-3.

Three Stars:

1.  Chris Stewart (STL)

2.  Marc-Andre Bergeron (TB)

3.  Ben Bishop (STL)

—————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————-

What I took from the game:

The Coaching Staff and Front Office have a lot of work to do.  They have 8 NHL Ready Defenseman (Bergeron, Brewer, Clark, Gervais, Gilroy, Hedman, Kubina, Ohlund) and have to figure out the Third and Fourth Lines.  I’ve been really impressed by Brett Connolly, but 2009 1st Rounder Carter Ashton has impressed too.  Have those guys earned a spot?  Then you have Blair Jones, Michel Ouellet, Alex Picard, Tom Pyatt, Mattias Ritola, and Dana Tyrell all competing for a few spots.

Lines for September 23 against the Panthers

Roloson

Garon

Conacher – Lecavalier – Purcell

St. Louis – Stamkos – Connolly

Tyrell – Pyatt – Ashton

Ritola – Jones – Shannon

Hedman – Brewer

Clark – Gilroy

Bergeron – Kubina

I think this gives the staff a good opportunity to see what they have and if Connolly and Ashton can stick with the team.  I expect a great effort.

Most of the interviews we had on “The Five Minute Major” were related to hockey, be it players or beat writers.  This was one of our entertainment interviews as we had Zane Lamprey, host of “Three Sheets”, a show where he travels the globe to learn about a places drinks and customs that come with the drinks.  This was the first interview of two we had with him and at the time his show was looking for a new network after MOJO HD closed their doors.