Derek Dunning
Women's Division III Correspondent
Greetings all,
I just wanted to take a couple minutes to jot some things down and thank some people.
As some of you may have already noticed, Ken Castro posted a D-III women's blog post this morning. He's taken over the duties as the USCHO D-III women's correspondent from me after I held the job since 2007. I officially stepped down last week after submitting my first column of the season.
A lot has changed for me since 2007 when I was still in college at Oswego State and had all the time in the world to devote to this column weekly. I've since moved on to Norwich University where I've been working in the Sports Information office for the last four years and was promoted to the Director two years ago.
The proper time needed to devote to this rapidly expanding entity that is D-III women's hockey just isn't there anymore and it's not fair to the USCHO community of the fans, players, coaches etc of D-III women's hockey to not have someone who can devote the adequate time to it, which I haven't been able to do lately, especially over the last year or so.
I've been following the D-III women's game ever since the NCAA started sponsoring the sport back in 2001 when I would go to Elmira games since it was 10 minutes from my hometown. You can't imagine the amount of changes I've seen in the 12 years since. The parity, speed, talent and depth of teams is exponentially better. The desire for news and information has also increased at pretty much the same rate and I haven't been able to keep up with it while still performing my duties at Norwich.
I'd like to thank Chris Lerch and Ed Trefzger for giving me the opportunity back in 2007 for my first professional writing gig. (Despite the fact they are RIT guys. For those of you who go way back there were not many college hockey rivalries that could top RIT/Elmira back when RIT was still Division III.
I also liked to thank Candace Horgan, my editor and Todd Milewski, the executive editor at USCHO for working with me over the past couple of seasons when my time became much shorter and my deadlines became a lot tougher to meet.
I'd also like to give a big thank you to all of the countless coaches and players I have interviewed over the years for my column. I'm pretty sure that in the seven years I got to interview well over 50% of the Division III teams, which when its a one-man show writing about 50 teams, I'd say that's not too shabby. I've been able to write some great stories and get to know a lot of these coaches a little more in depth than what meets the eye.
I'd like to thank my now colleagues in the Sports Information world who are the ones that provide the media with the tips and tidbits that build the foundation for a lot of these stories. These are the people that make the athletic news world tick, they're the ones stating the games, writing the press releases, managing social media content etc. that help provide the info to the media. They also are the ones who coordinate the interviews with these coaches.
I'll certainly still be around the Division III circuit with my job at Norwich as the head men's and women's hockey contact and I'll still be poking around the fan forum.
Lastly, I'd to like thank you, the fans and readers of D-III women's hockey for reading my stories and providing feedback over the years. Without you, there wouldn't be a need for someone to be writing about the game and keeping me on my toes with trying to keep up with everything that is going on all across the country. You'll be in great hands with my successor Ken Castro.
Thanks,
Derek Dunning
USCHO D-III Women's Correspondent (2007-2013)
I just wanted to take a couple minutes to jot some things down and thank some people.
As some of you may have already noticed, Ken Castro posted a D-III women's blog post this morning. He's taken over the duties as the USCHO D-III women's correspondent from me after I held the job since 2007. I officially stepped down last week after submitting my first column of the season.
A lot has changed for me since 2007 when I was still in college at Oswego State and had all the time in the world to devote to this column weekly. I've since moved on to Norwich University where I've been working in the Sports Information office for the last four years and was promoted to the Director two years ago.
The proper time needed to devote to this rapidly expanding entity that is D-III women's hockey just isn't there anymore and it's not fair to the USCHO community of the fans, players, coaches etc of D-III women's hockey to not have someone who can devote the adequate time to it, which I haven't been able to do lately, especially over the last year or so.
I've been following the D-III women's game ever since the NCAA started sponsoring the sport back in 2001 when I would go to Elmira games since it was 10 minutes from my hometown. You can't imagine the amount of changes I've seen in the 12 years since. The parity, speed, talent and depth of teams is exponentially better. The desire for news and information has also increased at pretty much the same rate and I haven't been able to keep up with it while still performing my duties at Norwich.
I'd like to thank Chris Lerch and Ed Trefzger for giving me the opportunity back in 2007 for my first professional writing gig. (Despite the fact they are RIT guys. For those of you who go way back there were not many college hockey rivalries that could top RIT/Elmira back when RIT was still Division III.
I also liked to thank Candace Horgan, my editor and Todd Milewski, the executive editor at USCHO for working with me over the past couple of seasons when my time became much shorter and my deadlines became a lot tougher to meet.
I'd also like to give a big thank you to all of the countless coaches and players I have interviewed over the years for my column. I'm pretty sure that in the seven years I got to interview well over 50% of the Division III teams, which when its a one-man show writing about 50 teams, I'd say that's not too shabby. I've been able to write some great stories and get to know a lot of these coaches a little more in depth than what meets the eye.
I'd like to thank my now colleagues in the Sports Information world who are the ones that provide the media with the tips and tidbits that build the foundation for a lot of these stories. These are the people that make the athletic news world tick, they're the ones stating the games, writing the press releases, managing social media content etc. that help provide the info to the media. They also are the ones who coordinate the interviews with these coaches.
I'll certainly still be around the Division III circuit with my job at Norwich as the head men's and women's hockey contact and I'll still be poking around the fan forum.
Lastly, I'd to like thank you, the fans and readers of D-III women's hockey for reading my stories and providing feedback over the years. Without you, there wouldn't be a need for someone to be writing about the game and keeping me on my toes with trying to keep up with everything that is going on all across the country. You'll be in great hands with my successor Ken Castro.
Thanks,
Derek Dunning
USCHO D-III Women's Correspondent (2007-2013)
