( Photo: C.J. Roussakis )
Geoff Ives, a third-year journalism student, just completed his first year as one of two play-by-play broadcasters for the Ravens men’s hockey team. Each game was broadcast on ssncanada.ca, a streaming sports network that webcasts university sporting events coast-to-coast. The Charlatan’s Elise A. Milbradt caught up with Ives to chat about his experience, and this the edited transcript.
What would you say was the best part about your experience this year?
Just getting to call the games. I love calling the games.
I’m a huge sports fan. I love playing sports. I’m not a particularly good athlete; the closest I can be to a competitive sports environment is calling the games.
It’s obviously not quite the same as playing, but it has a similar rush when you’re calling a really close game and you’re getting into it.
I’m usually tired after a game. It’s a different kind of tired than someone who has actually been playing, obviously, but I’m usually really tired and my voice is usually gone.
Conversely, what would you say was a negative part of your experience, if there was one?
Probably the single most embarrassing moment for me this year was when I went in to interview the Concordia head coach before a game.
I had looked him up on the Internet beforehand and done some research. I knew his background story, how long he’d coached, how long he’d been with Concordia, what he looked like – which is always important – and I’d even written some of this down under the heading “Concordia coach.”
I didn’t write down his name, and forgot it. I ended up having to ask him what his name was, which was humbling.
What did he say?
He took it quite well. He laughed.
It was funny because he made a joke about me spelling his name right when I wrote a story about the game. He asked me to spell his name because apparently people often get his name wrong.
I was like, “Oh,” and I blanked on his name.
It was Kevin Figsby. I’ll never forget his name and I’ll never make that mistake again.
Thinking back this year, what memory, or moment, stands out for you?
The first game against [Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR)]. It was the first hockey game I’d ever broadcast. And I know the team was pretty excited too, it being their home opening.
They came out and played a really good game; they beat UQTR who were, at the time, ranked in the top five in the country. That was a big upset. It was a lot of fun to call that game.
And then, the end of the year, calling their playoff run this year – they beat Concordia in the first round. Pretty much every playoff game was another step up from the regular season.
Do you prefer doing play-by-play when the team is winning versus when they’re not doing so well? What’s the difference?
Because I see Carleton players every game, you start to kind of cheer for the team.
When you’re winning, you’re sort of naturally more excited because they’re playing well.
But, from the way I’m actually calling the game, there shouldn’t be too much of a difference. There might be, I don’t know.
Would you call yourself a Ravens fan?
(Pauses and smiles.) Somewhat.
But you try to be unbiased when you’re calling it, yes?
I try and make the game broadcast as unbiased as I can. Well, maybe not as unbiased as I can.
Obviously the primary audience is people who know people on the Carleton team. They know every game is going to be on [Streaming Sports Network (SSN)], whereas this may be the other team’s only game here and their fans or parents may not know about SSN.
The people who listen game in and game out are Carleton fans, whether they’re related to the players or students or just fans of Carleton hockey. So I have to remember that that’s who they want to see win.
But I try not to be a homer.
What would you say, through a year of calling games, is the most important thing you’ve learned?
You can never do too much preparation.
I started out doing what I thought was enough preparation and, as the year went on, I realized I had to do more, and I realized what good prep would actually be and how to do it and who to talk to.
That was another thing: I didn’t initially know who to talk to and as the year went on I learned who to talk to and when to talk to them. I’m still working on that now and next year I’ll be better.
So you’re planning on coming back next year?
Yes, yes.
So how much time do you usually spend prepping before every game?
Oh, I don’t know. I can’t really put a figure on it. But during the week I usually go to the [SSN] website at least once a day to see if anything is going on.
If I have a minute or two I’ll browse through the stories, just seeing if anything interesting catches my eye.
When I actually sit down and prep for the game, probably at least five to seven hours a game, sometimes more and sometimes less.
Would you say that because you have seem them play all this year, and you have gained a lot of background knowledge, you might be able to cut down your preparation time next year?
I would never say, “Oh, I can spend less time prepping for this game.”
I could just spend the time prepping in a different way. I know what to look for.
I won’t have to spend as much time next year having to research on the Carleton players because I know about them.
How often, in calling or in interviewing, do you make a mistake? Like, you call something and then realize you called it wrong?
That happens fairly often.
It happens if a player tries to fake out a defenceman with the puck and sometimes he’ll fake me out. Sometimes I’ll just get the players name wrong.
It happens more often than it probably should, but that’s part of learning.
Has anyone ever come to you after a game and say, “Hey, I heard you say this, and that was wrong?”
That happened with Concordia, too. Apparently Concordia is bad luck for me.
The first time the Ravens played Concordia there was a name that I didn’t bother asking the pronunciation for because I thought I knew how to say it. That’s another big lesson I learned: always ask teams how to pronounce player’s names and go through every single player’s name.
This guy’s name was D’Aoust. I thought it was pronounced “dowst.” So I was calling him “dowst” all game. He was one of Concordia’s better players so I was probably saying his name a lot.
Midway through the second period, the guy who was sitting in front of me turns around and he says, in sort of half-French, half-English: “Excuse me. That player that you are calling ‘dowst,’ his name is ‘da-oo.’ ”
Well, I said, “Thank you very much,” and the next time he touched the puck I just started calling him “da-oo.”
The next time I had a chance, when there was a whistle, I said: “You may have noticed there is a new player for Concordia whose name is ‘da-oo.’ That is actually the player I was calling ‘dowst’ earlier.” So I will always remember his name, as well as the coach.