Hockey Recap Problem/Help

Sorry if my posts are getting annoying, but our school paper is just starting up again. We lost funding so we were on hiatus for a little while. Things are still coming together, so we're having some problems here and there, but the first issue was promising. Anyway, our editor sent out this week's assignments late. I was supposed to cover two hockey games from from last night and today, neither of which I attended because our topics change every week. I've done this a million times in the past -- wrote recaps of games that I didn't go to -- but it was always just basically looking at the box score and then recapping the goals and all the basic stuff. It's been passable, but nothing great. I know since I will not have been at either of the games, it sets a ceiling on how "good" the article can be. But do you guys have any tips to make a recap of these two games look somewhat decent, even though all I'm going to have it my disposal is two box scores and the recaps on our athletics site? Thanks for the help.

 

You got numbers for the coaches? If not, get them and call them. You'll more than likely get some color for the stories, and may be able to get some descriptions of the goals instead of just saying Bloggs scored off an assist from Juniper.

 

Check out things like power plays, shots on goal, plus-minus ratings if they have it. Those things can tell you a lot about a game. I had a road game last night I didn't go to and the team I cover was 6-for-6 on the penalty kill after giving up five power-play goals in its previous game. Scored the game-winner while short-handed. That tells the whole story right there and, of course, I got a couple quotes to back it up.

 

Bullshit. Juniper never passed a puck in his life...