The Concordia Stingers men’s hockey has gone live. Home games are now being broadcast on Concordia’s radio station, CJLO. Over the Internet and in the Loyola residences, on-ice action can now be heard as it happens.
“It’s phenomenal,” said Catherine Grace, who is responsible for sports information at Concordia’s department of recreation and athletics. “It’s something we’ve seen at other universities and envied.”
Katie Franzios, CJLO’s sports director, headed the project and saw it into its first broadcast on Nov. 16, 2002. “It went pretty well,” according to the second-year journalism student. Franzios gives the play-by-play, while Kevin Mio, a recent Concordia journalism grad, does the colour commentary. “A lot of prep work and energy goes into one broadcast,” she said.
The joint venture by CJLO and the recreation and athletics department did encounter some minor bumps that delayed the live broadcasts by almost a month from its planned Oct. 25 debut. “There have been some hiccups in the road,” said Franzios of the coverage, which was in the works since last summer’s initial proposal by Franzios to the radio station’s manager.
“Information on Concordia players is not easy to find. It’s not made, as accessible as the stats for the NHL are,” she added.
The night before the primary broadcast, Franzios was sent scrambling for a colour commentator. “A former stingers hockey player was supposed to do it and at the last minute he cancelled,” said Franzios. Fortunately, Mio stepped in, as his knowledge of the game and players was vast thanks to his previous position as a sports editor at The Concordian.
The commentators broadcast from the press box of the Ed Meagher Arena, where a Bell audio line connects them to the CJLO studio in the Central Building on the Loyola campus.
According to Grace, this is a dream come true because the live play-by-play serves two purposes: “Number one, it makes the players feel good about themselves, and two, it gives family and friends [a direct medium] to follow the games more closely,” she said.
Kevin Figsby, the head coach of the men’s hockey team, agreed with Grace, adding that the live broadcasts have “sparked a lot of interest.” He went on to say that the players and everyone involved with the team were ecstatic about it.
At the moment, Franzios is still looking for more commentators, as CJLO and the recreation and athletics department plan to cover the women’s hockey games next semester. As for live broadcasts of football games, another one of Concordia’s big sports, Franzios said the technical aspects for covering a football game are much more complicated than hockey because the audio line has to be run underground. Franzios added there are more rules and you need a commentator with an extensive knowledge of the game. She hopes that games will be broadcast next fall, but more manpower is needed.
If you are interested in helping out, E-mail Katie Franzios at [email protected] Catch CJLO’s coverage of the Stinger men’s hockey team on Friday, Nov. 29 at 7:30 p.m., as they face the Universit