My Preparation

Many people have asked me what goes into preparing for a broadcast in both of the sports I do. Baseball and hockey are two different approaches because of the frequency of games played-baseball being every day and hockey two or three times a week- but for the sake of this blog I'll focus on hockey. I'll take you through my week of preparation for a Merrimack weekend series of hockey- info that I have never shared before.

For the sake of our discussion I'm going to assume that the upcoming week has games on Friday and Saturday, following a Saturday night game the weekend before. After that first Saturday night's game after packing up my equipment and heading home, I will drink a half gallon of water when I return home. I am usually quite dehydrated- hockey play-by-play is very taxing on your voice and when you are talking constantly you deplete your vocal chords pretty rapidly. Getting a good night's sleep is crucial too.

Sunday is my day to recharge. I unplug the batteries and take time for me following a two game weekend. Most of the time it involves being away from hockey, but not always. Mondays I will usually update my career stats spreadsheet and E-mail that to the appropriate people, then cut and paste the scores from the other league games in (I track all the other teams games in the league) and then take the rest of that day off.

Tuesday is when I start getting ready for the following game coming up on Friday. I start by working on our team- Merrimack on that Tuesday. On my computer I use a software tool called Broadcaster's Edge, which allows me to organize my information into several neat compartments in such a way that I can find it quickly and easily when I need it. The first thing I do is update my notes on Merrimack- I update all the numbers and vital story lines that I will be tracking for Friday's game. I jot down story lines and key numbers that help to illustrate how the Warriors are doing. This is an example of some info I track in this section:

# 19 MC comes into tonight's matchup with Minnesota sporting a 10-5-2 record (4-4-1 HEA) after a 4-2 loss at BU on 12/6;  MC has reached the ten win mark at the second fastest pace since joining HEA.

And yet another piece of info:

MC has been outshot in 5 of the last 8 games; they reached 10 wins for the second fastest time in school history this season; 1-1 tie vs. BU at home on 12/5 was the first since 12-7-12 vs. Harvard (2-2).

Then I'll update the coaches section- I keep a record of our coaches record- his overall record, his record at Merrimack overall, in conference play and against our opponent and opposing coach- in this case Mark Dennehy- and there is also a section where I can add in details about each coach on the staff.

After this section is complete, I move on to the "stories" section, where I update the result from the last game, add in the history of the team we are playing against, and then I update the section I call "lasts." What I do is I like to keep track of the last time Merrimack did something, and I have a whole list of feats in this section. I'll review info from the previous game and update that section if need be.

Then I get to the custom section- this is where I keep notes and records on all of the vital numbers that help to color the broadcast. I start by updating the " highs and lows" section, which tracks the highest and lowest performances of team stats like most and least goals, assists, shots, penalties, etc. If I see Merrimack is approaching either a high or a low in a game I'll know exactly where to find it.

Then I update the special teams numbers, and the scoring and shots by periods. There is a custom box for each of these stats. Then I enter team stats, standings, and out of town games in the next box. The team stats cover everything down to faceoffs. I enter stats for Merrimack and their opponents so I can do a side by side comparison.

I then update the section called "situational statistics" which has Merrimack's record in different types of situations, like scoring the first goal, home and away, overtime, etc. That section looks like this:

SITUATIONALS

Overall 10-5-2

Conference 4-4-1

Home 7-1-1

Road 2-4-0

Neutral 1-0-1

Lead after 1: 3-0-0

Trail after 1: 1-4-1

Tied after 1: 4-1-2

Lead after 2: 7-0-1

Trail after 2 : 1-5-0

Tied after 2: 2-0-1

OT: 2-1-2

Shootout: 0-1

1 goal games: 6-3

2 goal games: 1-2

3 goal games: 2-0

4 goal games: 0-0

5+ goal games: 1-0

MC outshoots 7-2-2

MC outshot 3-3-0

Shots even 0-0-0

MC 0-20 SOG 1-0-0

MC 21-30 SOG 3-3-1

MC 31-40 SOG 5-2-1

MC 41+ SOG 1-0-0

OPP 0-20 SOG 1-0-0

OP 21-30 SOG 7-4-2

OPP 31-40 SOG 2-0-0

OPP 40-49 SOG 0-1-0

OPP 50 + SOG 0-0-0

Score 1st 8-0-1

Allow 1st 2-5-1

Ranked 1-2-1

Unranked 9-3-1

HEA 4-4-2 (overall)

AHA 3-1-0

BIG 10 0-0-0

ECAC 3-0-0

NCHC 0-0-0

WCHA 0-0-0

Sunday: 1-0-0

Monday: 0-0-0

Tuesday: 0-0-0

Wednesday: 0-0-0

Thursday: 0-0-0

Friday: 4-2-2

Saturday: 5-3-0

MC 0 gls: 0-0-0

MC 1 gl: 1-0-1

MC 2 gls: 3-5-1

MC 3 gls: 2-0-0

MC 4 gls: 2-0-0

MC 5 gls: 1-0-0

MC 6+ gls: 1-0-0

MC no PPG: 4-1-1

MC 1 PPG: 4-3-0

MC 2 PPG: 1-1-1

MC 3+ PPG: 1-0-0

MC W/ SHG: 0-0-0

MC more PIM: 2-2-0

Opp more PIM: 4-3-2

Even PIM: 4-0-0

October 4-1-1

November 6-3-0

December 0-1-1

January 0-0-0

February 0-0-0

March 0-0-0

April 0-0-0

1st game of back to backs: 4-2-1

2nd game of back to backs: 4-3-0

Then I'll compile league averages and team rankings, followed by team leaders and then I have a chart which tracks our team's record when each player scores, assists, and picks up point(s).

I will then go further into the team stats in the "stats" section, breaking them down even further.

Then I'll go into the "games" section and update the info from the last game, entering the score, game recap, and box score. Following that I then update each player's individual stats on the software, noting everything he has done down to average shots per game, keeping tracks of his goals scored, game by game performance, and awards he has won. There is also a place where I can jot down notes and stories on each player.  That takes care of Tuesday's work.

On Wednesday I will work on our opponent. I'll begin by updating their roster, then I take a similar approach in that I update their team notes, using their game notes from their previous game as a guide. (If their notes are ready for the upcoming game I will use that). I'll then update their coaches info, then their custom stats and numbers (again, using the media notes as a guide), followed by filling in their game section, then team stats. I keep a more basic file on opposing players- I track their regular season numbers, career numbers, career against Merrimack, their last goal, and career game highs. I also list each goal that the player has scored.

On Thursday I will update my scorebook from the previous game, finishing up adding in all the numbers. Then I'll prepare the scorebook for Friday's game. I'll read any relevant news stories on the web about both teams, then it's time to prepare the commercials for the radio broadcast. I keep all of my commercials in iTunes and on my iPod. I'll go in and arrange the commercials the way I want them, in the proper order and sequence, and then sync my iPod to play them in the exact order on the air. If we have a game on TV I then go in and rearrange the spots based on the script I was given by our SID, Chris Aliano.

And then we get to gameday- Friday. I'll wake up and eat a nice big breakfast. I'll need the energy to get through the day. After breakfast, I'll sit down and prepare my questions for my pre-game interview with Coach Dennehy. I give this a lot of thought- I never want to go into an interview unprepared. I love this part of the job because it really is the only time all week that I can sit down with our coach and get his take on things. Then after lunch I'll relax for a bit and then, for a 7:00 game I leave for the arena at 3:00. (It takes me about 90 minutes on average to get to Merrimack from my home).

I usually arrive to the arena around 4:30. It's the same routine at home as it is on the road. Here is what happens when I get there. I'll immediately set up my broadcast equipment. Then I'll set up the computers. After that I will seek out Coach Dennehy for the pre-game interview. Our interview time varies depending on his availability, but I usually get to interview him before his team meeting at 5:20 (most of the time, but not always). After that I meet up with my analyst, Mike Machnik. We'll then go and interview the opposing coach for the pre-game show.We'll also try to talk to the broadcasters of the opposing team. After that we grab a bite to eat and then we're good to go. I play all the commercials on my iPod directly on the broadcast. Mike handles the intermissions in terms of interviews, so I get a little bit of a break in between periods. After the game we do our post game wrapup and summary and then I break everything down and we do the whole thing over again on Saturday.

Well there it is in a nutshell. I hope you enjoyed this look into a typical week of hockey broadcast preparation!