A Night In The Pressbox

There are some moments when you just have to pinch yourself.

For me, Monday night was one of them.

Thanks to Shane O’Brien, an NHL defenceman who hails from Port Hope, I was tasked with the ‘job’ of going downtown Toronto to the Air Canada Centre and covering Monday’s game between his Tampa Bay Lightning and the Maple Leafs. My objective was to write a feature story on his experience playing close to home.

And so, with my full press credentials, I got paid to mingle with the luminaries of the sports writing profession, sit high above the rink in the Foster Hewitt Media Gondola, watch the action, and interact with pro hockey players after the game.

As a lifelong hockey fan and player, to say it was a thrill would be an understatement.

After getting my pass, I found my way to the media lounge where I grabbed some food alongside Leafs broadcaster Joe Bowen. I made sure to give myself a tour of the rink, past both dressing rooms, through the bowels of the arena (where I passed by superstar Vincent Lecavalier), and then out to the ice where I soaked in the atmosphere of an empty 18,000 seat arena and even sat on the visitor’s bench!

Of course, as a distinguished member of the press, my place was in the pressbox, and while there I only had to swivel my head to see such respected writers as Damien Cox, Pierre Lebrun and Mike Zeisberger hunched over their laptops. I also had a bird’s eye view on the game and the numerous goal celebrations from the capacity crowd as their beloved Leafs charged to a 6-1 victory.

After the game, I was able to meet and interview both O’Brien and Whitby native Paul Ranger, also of the Lightning. When I ran into scrums around Lecavalier, Martin St. Louis, Alexei Ponikarovsky and Mats Sundin, I threw my tape recorder into the mix like any responsible sports reporter would!

I’ve been lucky enough to see live NHL games before, but it was always as a member of the crowd. And I have entertained dreams of covering the NHL for a living. When I got the job as sports reporter here, I excitedly went to work chronicling the exploits of the local Junior A teams, but I never imagined that I would end up down at the ACC, interviewing some of the best hockey players in the world.

And yet there I was on Monday, living a dream.

Comments

[les]

So, what ever happened with your interview with Paul Ranger? Is it possibly available for a fan to watch or read?

Thanks.