A few days ago, Zac from Delayed Offsides wrote about his first season covering college hockey for the Something’s Bruin/Sieves The Day group. Among his excellent musings, he spoke about reporting on hockey from the view of someone who had played previously, which he has. Zac mentioned that as a hockey player himself, he relies less on stats, and more about watching the plays develop. Continue reading
Category: sports media (Page 5 of 10)
Photo: Guardian Project/Rocket XL
Remember two weeks ago when I spoke about the NHL Guardian Project -“How To Get My Little Brother to Watch Hockey“? The unveiling of the project’s superheroes is ongoing via Facebook through a voting process. Each vote is entered into a drawing to win a Limited Edition Guardian Project Graphic Novel.
I know the project has come under some fire from established hockey fans, but no matter your likes or dislikes of the project, one has to hand it to the NHL for exploring an collaboration that hasn’t been tried before. If it converts an audience previously untouched by hockey, then the comic book – sport meld will be worth it. For a sport close to reclaiming a spot in the national consciousness, the uncharted territory may be worth it.
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by a PR team related to The Guardian Project, Rocket XL.
This morning, my husband took his annual mission to the mall’s calendar kiosk to pick up his “Star Trek: Ships of the Line” calendar for 50% off. While there, he found a Buffalo Bills calendar located in the depths of the “random team” pile, left lonely with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Florida Panthers and Toronto Raptors calendars.
“Look what I found,” he said eagerly, handing me the calendar.
“The Buffalo Bills, a year in futility,” I smirked. “Sure, let’s get it.”
I didn’t look closely at the calendar until I got back to our apartment. I hold onto my mother’s old superstition that you are not to open a calendar until New Year’s Day, so I wasn’t about to tear off the plastic. Instead, I took a more careful look at the back, which previews every month’s cover athlete.
Hey, it’s Marshawn Lynch! And Bill Belichick’s favorite, Josh Reed! (In case you missed it, check out that link for Belichick’s Reed gaffe from last week.) There’s Shawn Nelson and Roscoe Parrish! Continue reading
I struggled mightly with purchasing a Christmas gift for my 16-year-old baby brother. I don’t blame the canyon-like age difference that separates us, rather the fact that I’m sports obsessed, and that the only sport my brother has showed any interest in is curling. And despite Sam’s initial promise with brooms and stones, he only lasted two years at the curling club before retreating to his preferred comics, anime, and video games.
So what do we have in common, besides the Hasenauer nose bump and a bad Canadian-like accent? Thanks to a collaboration between Stan Lee and the National Hockey League, Sam and I may finally have common ground.
The Guardian Project begins its roll-out with the new year. (Image: The Guardian Project and Rocket XL)
Comic book legend Stan Lee – creator of the iconic Spider Man and my brother’s favorite, Iron Man – has helped design 30 new superheroes that correlate with the 30 NHL teams. Entitled The Guardian Project, the multimedia enterprise will begin its roll out with the January 1st Winter Classic in Pittsburgh, PA, culminating in a project-wide unveiling at the NHL All-Star Game on January 30th. While the superheroes’ adventures will take place independent of an ice rink, each superhero will take on elements of their related franchise.
Vinny Saponari in a March 2010 game against Merrimack College. Photo: Flickr user seriouslysilly (Some Rights Reserved)
The story of the day amongst BU hockey fans was the reported Boston College transfer application rejection by dismissed Terrier forward Vinny Saponari. The rumor had been lurking amongst those close to Boston area college hockey for a few weeks, and the story broke for good when US Hockey Report (aka, USHR, a subscription site that reports on junior, youth and college hockey) posted a piece this morning quoting Saponari’s USHL head coach.
Saponari’s current coach with the USHL Dubuque Fighting Saints, Jim Montgomery, is the only interview in USHR’s brief report, which then spurred on reports by the Eagle Tribune’s Mike McMahon, BostonSportsU18 and the Daily Free Press’s Boston Hockey Blog. The Boston Hockey Blog tried to get a quote with Saponari, but “a call and text were not returned.” Word had spread outside of the USHR report – two individuals mentioned to me that area coaches had just started being open about the news last evening, and the news spread like wild fire through the expanding, but still very small, world of hockey.
As the news was circulating on Twitter, a few folks asked within social media, “Well, who are we all to be talking about a pretty embarrassing and private matter for this hockey player? Why is Saponari’s rejection news?”
There is no question to me that this is news – Saponari’s initial dismissal from BU was very public, as the Terrier program had to give reason for his absence in the then upcoming season, and he decided to engage on interviews on the subject. His decision to subsequently transfer to BC, BU’s biggest hockey rival, was made public on his own Facebook page and a few media sources.
So Saponari’s rejection by BC was going to become public whether he liked it or not. For better or worse, his own statements on the matter earlier this fall made us all expect to see him on the Conte Forum ice come next September. Because of the level of expectation already prepared, the college hockey watching public would find out about the rejection eventually. In hindsight, Saponari, his family and his “family advisors” should have kept word of his desire to transfer down Comm Ave quiet until all the i’s were dotted, t’s were crossed, and transcripts approved.
But where the critics of the publicity of Saponari’s denial may have a legitimate point is that the only on-the-record source through this entire story has been the player’s own USHL coach. Was it really appropriate for Montgomery to be so forthcoming with this news with USHR in the first place? Was it his place to do so? Was he representing the family, and if so, should he or the USHR author been more explicit in saying so?
On a much larger level, if a coach is part educator, part advisor, part mentor, and part counselor, shouldn’t he uphold a certain level of confidentiality?
I’m not defending Saponari in any way (if I don’t have anything nice to say, I’m not going to say anything at all), but didn’t he deserve a tad more from Montgomery? Should USHR have looked for a quote from Saponari or his family? If Montgomery was acting on their behalf, shouldn’t that have been more explicit?
What do you think?