Today’s NHL Writers On Covering Hockey
The National Hockey League will mark its 100th anniversary on Nov. 26, 2017. Incredible games, teams and players have emerged from the league’s history, ranging from Gordie Howe and Jean Beliveau in the 1950s to Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier in the 1980s to today’s superstars that include Sidney Crosby and Alex Ovechkin.
Like with any sport, reporters, columnists and more recently bloggers have played an integral role in covering the NHL, recording the league’s greatest moments, as well as its setbacks and pitfalls.
Today’s hockey writers work at major newspapers, websites devoted to hockey, websites in which sports plays a lesser role, television and radio stations, satellite radio, smaller newspapers and newspapers devoted to hockey. The mix has never been greater.
Allan Kreda covers the New York Rangers and the New York Islanders for The New York Times–his favorite news publication when he was growing up.
“I always read the Times cover to cover. I was inspired by many of the great columnists in those pages through the years, like Dave Anderson and George Vecsey,” Kreda said.
Kreda covered a variety of sports early in his reporting career for various news organizations, such as The Associated Press and Bloomberg News. But when we he was offered an opportunity to cover hockey for The New York Times, it was a chance that he couldn’t pass up.
“The opportunity to bring my early experience in journalism full circle by writing for the Times was attractive to me,” Kreda said.
Isabelle Khurshudyan is the Washington Capitals beat reporter for The Washington Post — originally hired after graduating from the University of South Carolina in 2014 to cover high school sports in the D.C. area. Soon after, she was then asked to cover the NHL Winter Classic at Nationals Park in 2015. The only problem? Khurshudyan was unfamiliar with the sport, not growing up watching hockey.
“I’m fluent in Russian and had been into sportswriting since high school,” said Khurshudyan. “So I thought I might have to learn hockey at some point.”
Khurshudyan said she originally tried to avoid writing anything technical about the game, so she would ask those questions to the players on the Capitals. Asking questions not only helped with her stories, but also helped her learn the sport.
“I think the players appreciated that I didn’t know what I was talking about and that I was honest,” Khurshudyan said.
Associated Press reporter Stephen Whyno, on the other hand, was a huge hockey fan growing up in Philadelphia, dreaming of being a hockey writer.
“Hockey was my first love as a sport,” Whyno said.
Whyno previously covered the Capitals for The Washington Times from March 2011 to May 2013 and was a national hockey reporter for The Canadian Press from June 2013 to December 2015. He now covers the Capitals for The Associated Press.
He said covering the sport has been made more difficult because access to players is more difficult compared to when he first began his career.
“Teams want to restrict access and there are more team websites that want to control their content,” said Whyno.
Helene St. James, who covers the Detroit Red Wings for the Detroit Free Press, agreed with Whyno adding today’s sportswriters have to be more versatile in the growing digital climate.
“You used to walk in a locker room or post game news conference with a notebook. Now, I bring a laptop and file a story right after every event,” said St. James. “You also have to be able to shoot and edit videos and create your own podcasts, in addition to writing.”
The rise of social media has presented new challenges for today’s NHL reporters, but it has also provided new opportunities for their stories to reach larger audiences. With almost 19,000 Twitter followers, Whyno has built an online audience that he can quickly deliver news to.
“It’s easier to promote yourself today,” Whyno said, “Today, I can share my story to the world immediately with Facebook and Twitter.”
Regardless of the technology at their disposal, it is still up to the reporter to take the initiative in approaching players and coaches.
“You have to be more self-reliant,” Khurshudyan said. “It’s up to me to get this guy in the locker room. It took time to build up the relationships to write the cool stories.”
Khurshudyan’s favorite story came from the due diligence she put in through building relationships on the Capitals. It also came from a need to find something unique to write about in the middle of a long season.
“The team has a crossword club. Morning crosswords, they pair up and try to keep their minds sharp. People reacted well to [the story] and like that sort of goofy thing. And it’s a story a beat writer should know what to do. I was proud of that because it was me doing my job everyday,” said Khurshudyan.
Whyno said it’s important for reporters to build up the rapport with the coaches in order to also get better access and opportunities for more unique stories.
There have been stories that have given NHL beat reporters some incredible globetrotting opportunities. St. James said that her job not only let her cover several of the Red Wings playoff runs, but has also let her cover several Winter Olympics, including the 2006 Games in Torino, Italy and the 2014 Games in Sochi, Russia.
Whyno also covered the Olympics in Sochi and said that he was in awe of Canada’s dominant gold medal team that went 6-0. But it was the game that he simply attended, with no work assignment, that ended up being his favorite memory.
“The U.S.-Russia game. That was the best game I’d ever seen,” Whyno said.
Bloggers have also been a big reason for the NHL’s sustained interest during recent years. Lyle Richardson is the creator of the website ‘Spector’s Hockey’ and was also a former online contributor for ‘FOXSports.com’ and ‘AOL.’
Richardson previously spent 25 years in the Canadian Forces before he embarked on a freelance writing career. He said that he’s fortunate to write about hockey and do what he loves on a full-time basis. He added that being a freelancer also means a weaker level of job security.
“You can be terminated from a job at any time, especially for budgetary reasons,” Richardson said, “The NHL lockout in 2004 and 2005 was a big low because it’s tough to be a hockey writer when all there was to report on was a labor dispute.”
Richardson said that he gained a lot of early writing inspiration from the likes of Red Fisher of The Montreal Gazette, former ‘Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’ sportswriter Bruce Dowbiggin, and hockey commentators Bob McKenzie and Stan Fischler. Kreda said Fischler was an inspiration and personal mentor. He often was called, ‘The Hockey Maven.’
Still, “there can be stressful situations, but that comes with the job,” St. James said. “I enjoy waking up every morning and coming up with a fresh idea. It really depends on your mindset.”
The digital age has allowed more possibilities of exposure for journalists of all different types of subject matters. But the actual writing remains the key element for the success of people covering the NHL.
“I still enjoy the creative process as well as being part of the increasingly digital aspect of journalism. Good storytelling will always have an important place,” said Kreda.
All-Time Hockey Scribes of Note
* Dink Carroll
Austin ‘Dink’ Carroll wrote a column for The Montreal Gazette from 1941 to 1987. In addition to covering the Montreal Canadiens and other hockey news for The Gazette, Carroll also covered baseball and football. In fact, Carroll not only won the Elmer Ferguson Award and was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1984, but also was inducted into the Canadian Football Hall of Fame in 1986. Carroll died on April 8, 1991 at 91.
* Jim Matheson
Matheson covered the Edmonton Oilers for 24 years for The Edmonton Journal. He covered the Oilers five Stanley Cup victories and has spent many hours and days writing stories and updates about the team. He completed his tenure as the Oilers beat writer in 1997, but still writes for The Journal, covering both the NHL and the Oilers. He was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and received the Elmer Ferguson Award in 2000.
* Milt Dunnell
Dunnell joined the Toronto Star in 1942 as a sportswriter after working for The Beacon Herald in the 1920’s. Dunnell later became a columnist and sports editor for the Toronto Star. He covered several Stanley Cups and every Olympic Games from 1952 to 1968. Dunnell was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and received the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award in 1984. He was also inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1991 and the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 1995. Dunnell died on Jan. 3, 2008 at 102.
* Ken McKenzie
Ken McKenzie is most well known for being a journalist and the president, founding publisher and co-founder of The Hockey News, which today is the most nationally recognized hockey publication in North America. The Hockey News has a readership of more than 225,000. McKenzie received the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award in 1997 and has been honored by the American Hockey League, Central Hockey League and International Hockey League with trophies bearing his name. He died in 2003 at 79.
* Jim Coleman
Coleman had a nationally syndicated column through the ‘Southern Newspapers’ and also covered hockey for the Edmonton Bulletin, Globe and Mail, and the Winnipeg Tribune. He joined the ‘Southern Newspapers’ in 1931 and was active for over 52 years until his retirement in 1983. Coleman was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and received the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award in 1984. He is also a member of the Canadian News Hall of Fame and the Canada Sports Hall of Fame. Coleman passed away on Jan. 14, 2001 at 89.
* Helene Elliot
Elliot became the first female journalist to be inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and receive the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award in 2005. She is one of the first women to cover the sport, moving from Newsday to The Los Angeles Times in the late 1970s when women weren’t allowed access into most press boxes and locker rooms. Elliot would often have to wait to conduct interviews hours after the game had ended. She also covered the infamous ‘Miracle on Ice’ game in 1980 and every Stanley Cup since 1980. Elliot became a general sports columnist for the newspaper in 2006.
* Dick Johnston
Johnson covered more than 1,100 Buffalo Sabres games for the Welland Ontario Tribune and The Buffalo News. Johnston was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and received the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award in 1986. The Sabres organization also recognized Johnston by inducting him into the team’s Hall of Fame in 2004. He joined The Buffalo News in 1939 and stayed with the publication up until his retirement in 1984. Johnston passed away on Nov.6, 2008 at 89.
* Elmer Ferguson
Ferguson became the sports editor for The Montreal Herald in 1913, at 28, and served in that position for 39 years. His sports columns called ‘The Gist and the Jest of It’garnered him national recognition where he focused in-depth detail on the Montreal Canadiens. Ferguson was recognized as one of the first Hockey Hall of Fame media honorees in 1984 and has his name today honored as the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award. He was also inducted into Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame in 1968 as a builder, someone who forever paved the way for the advancement of hockey. Ferguson died on April 26, 1972 at 87.
*Trent Frayne
Frayne is a Canadian sportswriter who enjoyed a career that lasted over 60 years. During that time span, he worked as a sports reporter for the Brandon Sun at just 15 years old and would later work for the Winnipeg Tribune, Canadian Press and the Toronto Telegram. Frayne was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame and received the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award in 1984. He was also inducted into the Canadian News Hall of Fame and later into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2002. Canadian journalists often described Frayne as ‘likely Canada’s greatest sportswriter ever.’’ Frayne died on Feb. 11, 2012 at 93.
*Red Fisher
Fisher has had one of the most successful sportswritng careers in the profession. From his first NHL assignment for The Montreal Star in March of 1955 to his retirement from The Montreal Gazette in 2012, Fisher covered 43 Stanley Cups, including 17 Stanley Cups involving the Montreal Canadians. According to the Montreal Gazette, Fisher was the longest serving beat writer to ever cover an NHL team. He received the Elmer Ferguson Memorial Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame in 1985 and was inducted into the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame in 1999. At 89, Fisher continues to write guest articles today for The Montreal Gazette.
Connor Glowacki is a 2016 graduate of the Philip Merrill College of Sports Journalism Graduate prgoram with a specialization in sports journalism.
