Re: Ferris State Hockey 2009-10 - 2 minutes for slashing
I'll beat you to it Skimey!
FYI, Next time you need an article, google it. I got it right from
http://www.cchaarenaguide.com/Dominic-Hennig-Article-9.
Here it is:
New Kid In The Booth
Dominic Hennig didn’t win over everybody, but it’s hard to deny his passion for hockey.
By Zeke Jennings
Pioneer Sports Editor
Published: Monday, April 5, 2010 10:21 PM EDT
BIG RAPIDS — Like or dislike his radio broadcasting style, it’s hard to argue that Dominic Hennig’s passion brings attention to Ferris State hockey.
That’s not only what he wants, but that’s what his superiors want.
Hennig, an 18-year-old Ferris State freshman from Macomb, took over radio play-by-play duties for hockey this season. He did a lot more than that, however.
The athletic department allowed Hennig to become a key marketing tool for the hockey program, which included him continuing to grow a Facebook student section page he started as a sophomore in high school and spreading the word about Bulldogs hockey to anyone who would listen, including media, fans, non-fans and students.
“(Hennig) has exceeded my thoughts as far as what he could bring,” Ferris State athletics director Tom Kirinovic said. “At the same time, I think he’s been surprised of how willing we’ve been to try new things.”
Home attendance numbers were up from an average of 1,424 fans last season to 1,618 fans this year. It’s impossible to measure how much promotion plays into that since the team was a lot more successful on the ice, but the athletic department did a lot more promoting of events this season than it has in previous years. Hennig was a big part of that.
His Facebook student section page, which he began well before ever attending Ferris State, currently has over 1,400 members.
“Dom has been instrumental in improving our student section numbers and is constantly looking at cutting-edge social media and promotional type activity that others are doing,” said Ferris State associate athletics director Jon Coles, who is Hennig’s director supervisor.
Kirinovic said Hennig’s efforts, which includes reaching out to all forms of media, has drawn more television coverage from the Grand Rapids market and not just for hockey.
“He developed a nice relationship with the folks at (WZZM) channel 13,” Kirinovic said. “They were here for our Lift-A-Thon (a football fundraiser) and spring football practice. That’s never happened before and probably wouldn’t have without the relationship that he’s built.”
Said Hennig: “I send out all my goal calls. When we beat Nebraksa-Omaha in overtime (in the CCHA quarterfinals) to make it to the Joe, WZZM played my goal call. I think that things like that help take our athletic department to a new level.”
Hennig replaced longtime announcer Bill Beckwith as the voice of Ferris State hockey on 100.9 FM prior to this season. The athletic department elected to eliminate the paid position in favor of Hennig, who had three years of radio experience, including two with high-level junior hockey in Santa Fe, N.M., prior to taking over duties at Ferris State.
Hennig’s passionate style has drawn both positive and negative feedback.
“Every game I’d receive a minimum of 10 e-mails,” Hennig said. “A lot of them were comments about the game, but there would always be at least one or two that said ‘We love your broadcast,’ or ‘Keep it up.’”
Hennig is widely popular with the players and their families. He said he personally only received one negative response throughout the season. That came after his excitable call when the Bulldogs defeated then No. 1 Miami in a shootout on the road.
“I give my cell phone number over the air,” he said. “I got a text from an undisclosed number saying I was the worst broadcaster in the entire world, I knew nothing about hockey and I should quit.”
Most of the negative responses have gone to Kirinovic and Coles, who have been criticized for eliminating a paid position to a local broadcaster in favor of an 18-year-old student.
“I wish people would let me know what they don’t like about me, then maybe I can do something to fix it,” said Hennig, who understands why his presence is a turnoff to some people. “If I was 40 years old and from Big Rapids, I don’t know if I would have had one complaint. But because I’m young and from a different city, some don’t want to give me a chance.
“I know there are people who just see an 18-year-old kid and think they know more than I do, but I now have four years of experience doing radio, and I do a lot of other things besides just radio to promote Ferris.”
One would be hard-pressed to find a bigger advocate of hockey than Hennig, who hopes to be an NHL play-by-play announcer.
“I couldn’t believe it when I started coming to games here that it wasn’t sold out every game,” he said. “Hockey is big throughout the world but not so much in our country. I think that’s a problem.”
Hennig feels it’s not only the skill and speed of which the game is played, but the people within the hockey community that makes the sport special.
“Hockey is a lifestyle that you don’t find in other sports,” said Hennig, who played hockey growing up with the Honeybaked program in the Detroit area. “I’ve talked to a lot of different people within the media, they all say hockey players are the most disciplined, dedicated people they deal with.”
Hennig enjoyed his first season and is looking at what he can do to get better.
“I'd like to thank the Ferris State athletic department, as well as coach Bob Daniels for giving me such an awesome opportunity this season,” he said.
Man I wish the Pioneer offered free access to their articles.
). I was shocked to see your PWR drop so much after the semi-final loss to NMU, and was also surprised to see how much NMU's went up. The one that shocked me the most was New Hampshire...they were #15 in PWR after losing that 3rd game in the HEA quarterfinals, and somehow managed to move UP. 