(Note this story was written two years ago, It has nothing to do with GV, but its one of my favorites, I won a bunch of awards for this story including Grand Prize winner from Detroit Red Wings High School Media Day)
The students couldn’t control their excitement the moment their eyes caught a glance of the white surface surrounded by a sea of red, black, and white seats. A sense of awe and anticipation was palpable through a short silence followed by a series of camera clicks. Teens, parents, chaperones rushed down the endless flight of steps with their eyes focused upon the white floor centered in the middle of the large building, more clicks followed. With every step they descended, the white surface became bigger and eventually revealed every detail of the ice surface. Finally, the mass decent ended and the sounds of the camera clicks started again at an even faster rate as a red figure flew right by. A wall of transparent Plexiglas boards halted the students’ advance, yet their excitement only grew as more figures draped in red, white, and black skated by. One figure draped in black slowly skated over toward the students, cracked a smile, and held it for the climax of camera clicks that followed. Then, Chris Chelios, the smiling figure in black, skated away.
To some, the opportunity to attend a Detroit Red Wings practice was the highlight of the Detroit Red Wings High School Journalist Day, an event put on by the organization and held at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit. The event was intended to give a few selected high school journalists a simulated experience of what it would be like if they were professional sports writers. Some of the scheduled events on the agenda were mock press conferences with players, coaches, and media members, tours of media-only access points such as the press box, the chance to watch a Red Wings practice from any location in the arena, and of coarse, a pizza lunch courtesy of Little Ceasar’s.
The day had a media feel to it from the beginning, when the roughly 60 invitees along with some parent chaperones walked through the door marked “Media Only” and received a makeshift press pass. After everyone registered, a tour guide led the students and chaperones to the entrance of the Olympia Club where the young journalists received the same press packets that sports writers would receive. The packets contained every kind of statistic imaginable from not only the Red Wings and their most recent opponent, but every aspect of the current NHL season.
Centered in the middle of the Olympia Club was the press stage where the conferences would occur. First on the list of interviewees was a panel of media members made up of Jennifer Hammond from Fox 2 News, Red Wings radio play-by-play broadcaster Ken Kal, Detroit News columnist Neal Rubin, and Bruce Macleod from the Macomb Daily. The students were allowed to ask the panel a series of questions regarding the career of sports journalism.
Through the mock press conference, the students gained a wealth of information. From a combined 99 years of journalism and communications experience on the panel, the students were able to gain valuable insight from the reporters. The young journalists were able to hear not only some of the panel’s stories in the field, but also tips on becoming a better journalist.
They heard heart wrenching stories of families living in cars and human interest tales such as Jennifer Hammond taking former Detroit Lions defensive tackle Shaun Rodgers out for a pedicure.
However the most valuable peace of information that the students gained was how to conduct oneself as a journalist. “You have to tell the story, said Mcloud “Observation, observation, find interesting stories, pay attention…If it amuses you it will amuse others.”
The young journalists learned on how to break into the journalism field. “You have to want to be a journalist… You have to love the process of writing the stories,” said Mcloud. “Sometimes you will have to start at a small newspaper, work your way up the ranks, sometimes you’ll even have to do jobs for free and work other jobs on the side.” The panel stressed that the most important thing for student journalists is to get experience in any way necessary.
Every member confirmed that although its hard to break into the media field, it’s worth it in the end, “I have the opportunity to do things I would’ve never done the people you meet, the places you get to go, things I get to experience where I can scratch my head and say man I’ve come a long way from Littleton, Colorado,” said Rubin.
After a short intermission where the students toured the press box and observed practice, the young journalists returned to the mock press conference and awaited the most intriguing part of the day, as head coach Mike Babcock and General Manager Ken Holland were called to the podium. No time was lost as the high schoolers immediately started asking the hard questions. The first question asked: “How has the recent resigning of Henrik Zetterberg to a 12 year deal affected the contract situations between soon-to-be- free agents Johan Franzen and Marian Hossa?” Holland responded, “I thought their would be some softball questions at first.”
The first question broke the ice and the next few questions were centered on the topic of Zetterberg’s new contract. “Henrik made it clear that he wanted to play his whole career in a Redwing uniform,” Holland said. “He loves the idea of having the type of career as Steve Yzerman... It was a commitment by Mr.Illitch and Henrik to the city of Detroit and the state of Michigan.” Holland than later said that he feels the Zetterberg could be a future captain.
“We ended up putting a good contract that gave us a good cap number. If you look at cap space, there is no doubt we can afford [either Hossa or Franzen]. We can keep both but the question is whether we can keep both and most of your team together as well, it’s a team sport,” Holland said
Other key areas of discussion revolved around goaltending, the trade deadline, the current roster, and up-in-coming prospects. Babcock admitted the goaltending needed to get better and. “The best penalty kill is your goaltending.”
At the time of the press conference, the NHL trade deadline was approaching and everyone seemed curious whether the Wings would show any activity. Holland said, “Our best trade might be somebody in the minors.” It appeared evident that he wasn’t planning on making a move as he sang praises for the talent in the farm system. He seemed particularly high on a few prospects such as Ville Leino, defenseman Jonathan Ericsson, and goaltender Thomas McCollum.
Asked why players take pay cuts to become a Red Wing, Babcock simply stated, “Every other team doesn’t win 50 games a year…and winning with integrity.”
The press conference wrapped up with current Red Wing defensemen Brett Lebda and Andreas Lija, along with forward Dan Cleary. The journalists clamored to ask the players what it was like to be a pro hockey player, what they did with the Stanley Cup, what it is like on a road game, and even if thought refs make good or bad calls.
The players’ stories began to role off their tongues, pleasing the young admirers. “We had the cup 12-13 hours, so it was a happy day for us…We ate Honey Nut Cheerios out of it.” Lija said. The players also talked about the tradition of the team. No matter what people say the city will always be Hockeytown.
The day soon was over and the students began to pile into their cars to take the journey back home. Although some were sad the day ended, they felt inner joy as they slowly realized that Detroit Red Wings High School Journalism Day was something that they would never forget.
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