Girls Who Play Hockey Rock

So you know, in the wake of dropping my keys down the elevator shaft, I never got around to making that post about the fine evening leading up to the incident.

A buddy of mine’s wife plays ice hockey on a team associated with the Seattle Women’s Hockey Club, and that night they were holding their Exhibition Games and Beer Garden Fundraiser. About a week before, they were contemplating how they could scare up an announcer for the event. Hello, over here. Eventually they got the bright idea to call me, I considered it for exactly 2.4 seconds, and accepted the gig.

Reason #62854 why hockey is the greatest game in the world: the public address announcer is actually mentioned in the NHL rulebook. He is required by rule. Of course, this rule is frequently broken on ponds and in small rinks across the country, but it was good to see the SWHC adhering to code. ;)

So the club President, who I also happen to know via having met her at the annual Tri-Birthday Celebration thrown in May for myself and two friends of mine with birthdays within a week of my own, gets in touch with me a week in advance, and actually has scripts for me. This was a level of preparation I was not used to, and was thrilled to see, as I was able to spend the week rewriting the information in my own voice while still getting across the information they wanted to disburse. Usually, this is something I’m furiously doing on game night via scribbles in the margins of the notes they give me, instead of editing it in nice big text on my laptop, which enabled it to double as a TelePrompTer. (Yeah, I have no idea why they capitalize the second T, but it’s a brand name, and I’d hate to see it go the way of Jell-O.)

Said laptop also tripled as the music system, as I loaded my entire MP3 collection to it, ripped a bunch of other songs I had on CD that I thought would fit well, and downloaded a few more. (Shhh. Don’t tell the MPAA. Or RIAA. Or AARP. Or AADA. Generally keep it quiet from anyone with a lot of ‘A’s in their name.) So, a trip to Radio Shack to get a couple little adapters I needed on Saturday, and it’s off to the game.

As expected, last-minute preparations were at a fever-pitch as I was trying to set up, which always makes me a little antsy, but with some help I got everything hooked into the sound system at the rink and my sound checks done. And when I went on the mic the first time, I have to admit I had a little bit of stage fright, as I was playing to a full rink, and wasn’t expecting to.

But it didn’t take long for me to get into the swing of things, and I don’t want to sound like I’m tooting my own horn here (even though I suppose I am), but it’s a crying shame there isn’t a full-time industry for public-address announcing, because DAMN am I good at it. Much as Gretzky’s office was directly behind the net, mine is behind that mic in the scoring box. And it’s fun and satisfying to do something you do well.

But the greatest part was meeting everyone. What a GREAT bunch of women, they couldn’t have been nicer, and they truly appreciated having someone there to make their games feel like a major event. And the feeling was mutual…I truly appreciated that they WANTED me there, and it totally pumped me up to hear how much they enjoyed it. You just don’t get genuine props like that a whole lot.

I’ve been told I’m welcome back anytime, and I may well take them up on that next chance I get!