A little help ...

I'm covering my first hockey match Wednesday night in Nashville. I don't know the sport like, say, baseball or college basketball, but have watched enough of it on TV and in person to where I know the basics such as goals, offsides, penalties, etc.
If there are any hockey writers hanging out here (and not any of the snark-meisters who try to ruin this board from time to time) who can tell me what I should note from the press box, I'd appreciate it.

 

It's not a match, it's a game.

Other than who scores, watch for key penalties and how successful a team is on the power play. Since you haven't covered hockey before, I doubt you know much of line pairings. Do your homework on the series. See what the issues are for the Ducks and Predators heading into Game 4.

 

And it always makes for an easy hockey gamer if one of the goalies is sharp.

 

Watch everything. I find the minute I look down to record a penalty or something else, that's when a goal is scored.

I usually just push my laptop screen as far forward as I can, and type notes as I'm leaning over the press box.

 

And if both goalies are sharp, look for puck possession. Is one team spending a ton of time around the other team's net and just can't figure out a way to score? If so, they're carrying the play and dictating the pace of the game. Is another team always losing the puck just before they cross the blue line to get into the zone? If so, their opponent may be playing some kind of trap on defense to limit the offensive chances.

And look at what happened prior between the two teams. Were they high scoring games? High penalty games? Did a couple players dominate? And then see how those trends apply in this game.

 

Some storylines to consider....

1) Nashville has never won a playoff series in its history. Never even won three games in a series, so a win Wednesday would put the team in uncharted waters.

2) Nashville has a great defense and goaltender, but often struggles to score more than 2 goals in a game. Anaheim, on the other hand, has a lot of good scorers (Selanne, Perry, Getzlaf, etc.), but has struggled in goal ever since their regular starter, Jonas Hiller, was sidelined with vertigo. Hiller was an all-star this season.

3) Nashville forward Mike Fisher is married to country music singer Carey Underwood.

4) Team that scores the first goal of the game has won 20 of the 23 playoff games played through Monday. No team has overcome a deficit of more than one goal. No team has won a game after trailing at the second intermission. So it pays to get ahead and sit on the lead.

 

5) Jordin TooToo is the first and only Inuit to play in the NHL, and he has whale meat shipped into to Nashville regularly for dinner. Not sure if it's served in the press room, though.

 

I saw his brother, Terence, play in the minor leagues with the Roanoke Express. Then he killed himself.

 

WTF just happened?

 

1-2 -- decent stuff
3 -- If you call her Carey Underwood (her name is Carrie), prepare to be laughed out of Nashville.
4 -- Unless your deadline is 10 minutes after the game ends, don't write stat stories. This is three-dot data at best, don't build a story around it.

 

Your first hockey story EVER is NHL playoffs? I mean this in the nicest way possible, but fuck you. Where's my press pass to the cricket world cup? Lucky bastard.

As for what to note, big hits, penalties and line matchups are a good start. If you're writing inverted pyramid you'll obviously do goals, but in case there aren't many you'll need to fall back on good scoring chances to fill the bottom out.

Of course, if there's something you don't understand, don't be afraid to play stupid and have it explained to you. The only time you really look stupid is when it's in ink for all to see.

 

Yes, that caught my attention as well. I guess you do what you have to as a stringer.