AHL Mighty Ducks were pro hockey’s last Cincinnati Gardens party

Eggplant — the purple produce and the color alike — can elicit disgusted interjections through mere mention.

But just as every dog has its day, the much-maligned hue had its heyday in the ’90s. The Cincinnati Gardens grabbed that glamour while it was hot, and while taking on what would be its last professional hockey tenant.

After 68 years, the historic Gardens is officially condemned for demolition by the end of this calendar year. When the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks arrived in 1997, it was already apparent that more time sat behind than ahead.

But the antique arena would not resist a redress while it was still functional. When Anaheim’s NHL franchise, whose team and building were both born in 1993, selected Cincinnati as its new AHL satellite, the dependent went all out.

The Cincinnati Gardens seating bowl took on a new eggplant-and-jade pattern, “which certainly weren’t two colors ever seen previously in the building,” former team broadcaster John Walton told Pucks and Recreation.

And at center ice, the instantly iconic duck-shaped goalie mask and cross-sticks occupied one half of the faceoff circle. The other half was filled by Cincinnati’s own Duck emblem, a helmet-and-visor-clad bird sneering before two interlocking twigs.

This was in the radiating afterglow of the Mighty Ducks’ marketing peak. One season earlier, the namesake live-action film trilogy had released it final installment, while ABC ran a single-season animated series. The actual Anaheim team was coming off its first Stanley Cup playoff, which lasted two rounds and likely helped to sustain young bandwaggoners from afar.

Up to that point, that bandwagon did not have much steam in the minors. After starting in its natural region with the IHL’s San Diego Gulls, Anaheim turned to the AHL with the expansion Baltimore Bandits. But the Bandits lasted a mere two seasons before seeking relocation.

With Cincinnati, the Mighty Ducks would get their first child club to take the parent’s name. While there were other variables in play, the Cincinnati Gardens would have Anaheim’s AHL team for eight seasons, quadruple the run of the team’s two prior incarnations.

“I know it was important to local ownership in Cincinnati to have a Disney-branded marketing angle,” said Walton. “And obviously Anaheim and Disney were okay with the terms of the agreement.”

The cultural commodity was a refreshingly effective asset for steadfast Gardens loyalists. By fostering the Ducks and their unconventional colors, the building witnessed a swift succession after the tempestuous exit of the IHL’s Cyclones.

The Cyclones had arrived as a Double-A ECHL franchise in 1990, ending the facility’s 16-year hockey drought. The place had a dense and integral hockey history, beginning with its inaugural event, a neutral-site clash between the Montreal Canadiens and Dallas Texans in 1949.

But after the AHL/IHL Mohawks (1949-58) and AHL Swords (1971-74), it appeared the newer and larger Riverfront Coliseum was Cincinnati’s go-to puck abode. It hosted the WHA’s Stingers in the latter half of the ’70s and a short-lived Triple-A Central League team in the ’80s.

With the Cyclones, it looked like the Gardens and Cincinnati hockey in general had gone back to the future. That was until the brand was elevated to the IHL in 1992, then moved to the Coliseum (by then renamed The Crown) five years later.

“Since 1990, the Gardens had served as the team’s home, and the crowds were terrific,” said Walton, who started working in professional sports as a public-address announcer for Reds baseball at Riverfront Stadium, next door to the Coliseum.

“Sellouts all the time, Jerry Springer, Reds players among their season-ticket holders. It really was remarkable how a low-level minor-league team had captured a city that had been without a pro team for the better part of a decade.”

But then, he continued, “The lure of a bigger downtown arena was too much for the Cyclones to say no to.”

The move to a building almost 25 years younger and more than 4,000 seats larger was a sign of the times for the IHL. Besides Cincinnati, the league added a rash of teams in NHL-size cities between 1992 and 1996.

The Cyclones variously opposed Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Los Angeles, Minnesota, Orlando, San Antonio, San Francisco and Utah. A few teams left, but most stuck, giving a league full of unaffiliated franchises the look of a big-league box with bush-league contents.

When the AHL filled the Cyclones void in 1997, it gave Walton his first pro hockey play-by-play gig after two seasons at Miami University. His take on the civic divide: “In theory, both the caliber of play in the AHL and the name and theme gave the Ducks an edge over the IHL Cyclones.”

The two Triple-A leagues would coexist in the Queen City for four seasons, and it was nothing short of a divisive dynamic. The literally once-in-a-lifetime AHL-IHL overlap would not inspire interleague friendlies like the then-novel Mets-Yankees regular-season baseball sets in New York or Cubs-White Sox cards in Chicago. No one was sporting mixed-logo apparel to show support for both teams.

“There was a lot of resentment on both sides to two teams being in town,” Walton said. “Fans of the Ducks were generally angry that the Cyclones abandoned the Gardens, a building they loved. Cyclones fans disliked the presence of the Ducks, too, as some saw the Ducks trying to steal their fans.

“There just weren’t enough hockey fans to go around in a city the size of Cincinnati. There was a bit of poisoning the well on both sides, although personally the situation gave me my first pro job, so I’m a little biased about the situation.”

If there was ever a story where professional Mighty Ducks successfully emulated their Hollywood namesakes, Cincinnati’s saga was it. At first, the AHL Ducks were the new brand on the old block, an ostensibly disadvantageous double whammy.

Indeed, for each of their first three years of coexistence, the incumbent Cyclones drew better attendance figures. But that changed after the IHL crashed from its sugar rush, as the Ducks averaged 5,001 nightly fans in 2000-01.

The Cyclones, who had consistently been in the 6,000 or 7,000 range their first eight Triple-A seasons, dipped to 4,636. They were one of five franchises to fold along with the IHL that summer, though the ECHL picked up the brand.

Walton’s assessment of the struggle’s outcome evokes a familiar theory. On the eve of the IHL’s folding, Andrew Bourgeois of Hockey’s Future noted that the Cyclones’ circuit had developed “major-league travel budgets and salaries, and a major-league attitude that didn’t sit well with the NHL.”

Based on that, it is no surprise the Cyclones were the first to blink in their staring contest with the Mighty Ducks. Based on Walton’s informed take on the locale, it is only surprising the struggle persisted for four seasons.

“I still have family (in Cincinnati),” said the current voice of the Washington Capitals, “and while it’s easier than it used to be to find a hockey game on at a restaurant or bar, truth is most times I’ve had to ask for it to be put on, even in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

“I think the Cyclones misread the market back in the ’90s, and thought they were bigger than they really were.”

Conversely, the Baby Ducks continued to cooperatively uphold their half of the cross-country shuttle with Anaheim. By 2001, their reward would come in the form of more hand-me-downs than just the Gardens.

With the merger, Cyclones fans who missed the matchups with Cleveland, Chicago, Grand Rapids, Houston, Manitoba, Milwaukee and Utah could go back to the Gardens and see the Ducks complement those rivalries. With that elixir of entities, a host of old and new blended as the next millennium began in earnest.

“The Gardens was never a building with anything close to modern amenities like you’d see in big buildings today,” said Walton. “But the views were good, the tickets and concessions were family friendly, and a lot of future NHL stars came through the building during that time.”

To that point, the 2001-02 season also saw Cincinnati yield a few Stanley Cup champions. In their third and final year as a shared Anaheim-Detroit affiliate, center Jason Williams topped their goal chart with 23. Williams, along with fellow Cincinnati product Jiri Fischer, got his name on the Cup with the 2002 Red Wings.

The next season, with Anaheim’s full custody of the Baby Ducks restored, a team rifer with Cincinnati alumni, including newly promoted coach Mike Babcock, began its unlikely Cup final run by sweeping the reigning champions in the first round. Though that run ended in defeat against New Jersey, former Cincinnati stopper Jean-Sebastien Giguere corralled the Conn Smythe Trophy.

The occasional opportunity to see established Mighty Ducks stars also made the Gardens a go-to venue. Walton, who left late in the 1999-00 season, remembers Teemu Selanne dressing for a preseason Anaheim-Nashville game.

As the NHL’s top goal-getter at the time, Selanne won the 1999 Rocket Richard Trophy. The trophy is named for the legendary Canadien whose team graced the Gardens for its first event 50 years prior.

Nightly attendance in Walton’s final year hit 5,386 fans, which would be the second-best in the team’s run. The 2001-02 campaign, the first one featuring all of the IHL refugees, would be No. 1 with 5,459.

As the Mighty Ducks generation got older, along with the Gardens, the eggplant-and-jade luster faded in the Fountain City. After the 2004-05 NHL lockout year, which saw Ryan Getzlaf come to Cincinnati for a two-round Calder Cup playoff run, Anaheim transplanted its prospects to Portland, Maine.

The forlorn facility initially looked primed to restore the AHL with the RailRiders circa 2006. But that franchise never saw action, and was sold to a group in Windsor, Ont., then to Rockford, Ill., where it lives on as the IceHogs.

Meanwhile, in its dusking years, the Gardens had a low-level junior team for one season. Otherwise, the Mighty Ducks account for its freshest hockey legacy, one that posthumously produced 10 of Anaheim’s 2007 Cup-winning players.

At U.S. Bank Arena (nee The Crown, nee Riverfront Coliseum), the Cyclones live on in the ECHL. There is no sign of the brand getting up for another promotion like it did in 1992. This means the Mighty Ducks remain Cincinnati’s last Triple-A hockey franchise.

In addition, the Baby Ducks’ eight-year stay at the Gardens will forever be the arena’s second-longest run by any hockey tenant. The record belongs to the Mohawks, who were there for its first nine years of existence.

The Cyclones could have had that record if they wanted it, but they didn’t. As a result, local fans got their chance to experience the sport’s Disney dazzle. And the likes of Walton got a career launching pad that ultimately brought him to The Show.

“I thought our staff did a fantastic job to generate interest and get people to come out and see our games,” Walton said. “Marketing was great, financial support for ad buys was always there, but southwest Ohio’s saturation for hockey interest just wasn’t as high as it is in other places.”

He concluded, “The Ducks gave it a good run, but it was always going to be an uphill battle. But I was proud to serve alongside some good people there, who believed in the product we had and wanted to make it work.”

How D4: The Mighty Ducks should unfold, if it ever happens

Those who were born the year the Eden Hall Warriors gave way to a Mighty Ducks mascot have reached or are on the cusp of legal drinking age.

Is that enough time for the opening and closing slow-motion flashbacks from D3 to lose their authority? Can the vault reopen for a long-rumored/proposed D4 late in this decade or early in the next?

In the quest for an answer, the most encouraging aspect is the widespread approval of the trilogy’s veterans. In a 2014 Time Magazine piece, Matt Doherty (Averman), Elden Henson (Fulton) and Marguerite Moreau (Connie) all indicated they would want in. Joshua Jackson (Charlie) has repeatedly expressed comparable sentiments.

Technically, “when” still has yet to upend “if” on this matter. Regardless of that status, the question of “how” has more open ice to work with.

To drop the puck on Pucks and Recreation’s 25-day look back on The Mighty Ducks and all of its offshoots, a quartet of staff writers offer their ideal plotlines for a hypothetical D4.

Eden Hall ensemble

Two years ago, Jurassic World gave us one sound example of how to pick up on a ’90s film series two-plus decades later. That is, it rehashed a familiar storyline and brought back a few familiar faces, but let new blood take to the forefront. And that would be the way to go for a belated D4.

With several of the Mighty Ducks actors now focusing on other careers, there is no sense in reassembling the old flock. With that said, there is no reason to shut out the characters whose performers are still in the business. There should be enough to create a story-hopping screenplay that catches up with a handful of former Ducks in their adult, post-playing lives.

Charlie is an obvious must-have, and maybe by now he could be coaching Gordon’s teenaged son at Eden Hall. Meanwhile, to reflect the progress the women’s game has made, the school should field a girls’ team co-coached by Connie and Guy, a la Shannon and Matt Desrosiers.

Like their coaches before them, the new players carrying the Ducks torch will take everything that comes with it, including off-ice hijinks and run-ins with rival teams. A bonus narrative could revolve around the injury-prone Adam Banks trying to end his professional playing career with dignity. – Al Daniel

Like Gordon, like Charlie

The logical choice for D4 would be to bring back many of the central characters, but keep the focus on Charlie. In the same way Gordon grew distant from hockey in the events leading up to the first film, a possible plot in D4 could involve Charlie returning from his own hockey hiatus, this time as a coach of his son’s team.

Throughout the movie, the cast of the original trilogy could make cameos, with Bombay assuming a similar role as Joss Ackland’s late Hans character. Gordon could supply the hockey wisdom Conway needs in his first attempt at coaching.

By the end of the movie, returnees such as Fulton, Banks and Julie Gaffney could all make an appearance to cheer on Charlie and his son’s team as they face their main rival.

Who would be that rival? If the primary antagonist is a player from a previous Ducks movie, be it an ex-teammate of Charlie’s or a former opponent, conflicting loyalties could make for an interesting D4 plot twist. – John Morton

Aging with grace

The Mighty Ducks trilogy’s original fan base has grown over its quarter-century of existence. It would therefore make sense if the movie universe had moved on in time as well. So, if D4 is made, it should be set in the present day with a recently retired Charlie Conway.

Conway went on to have a long, successful career in the NHL, and is now coaching his son’s team. He is struggling in that role because he is overbearing on his kids, and must realize that he is becoming like Coach Reilly from the first movie. He must learn the balance of getting his players to win, but keeping it fun for them in the process.

Conway’s relationship with his son would be a major storyline in the movie. Due to his time away from the family in the NHL, he doesn’t have a great relationship with his son. Having missed many special events, he decides to coach his son’s team to rebuild their relationship. But with his intensity, their already shaky relationship becomes even rougher.

Eventually they get it together and face off against a rival team with Conway’s son winning on a breakaway with a quadruple deke because the goalie only expects the triple deke. Charlie Conway had made the triple-deke famous in the NHL, therefore the move has become commonplace. – Zach Green

The more things change…

If D4 ever happens, the time that has passed since the original three came out offers a great chance to go full circle. The kids from the original film would likely be in their 30s by now, perhaps with kids of their own playing youth hockey

D4 should focusing on two teams, one for each generation. One would be the traditional Mighty Ducks, made up of a few children of some of the original team, and perhaps a few other players. It would be most fitting for Charlie to coach the team. As Bombay’s protege, it is only fitting that he would go on to fill his shoes someday.

The tactics and style of play would now be engrained into Mighty Ducks hockey, and the team would truly be a force to be reckoned with. They are no longer underdogs, but the dominant team in the area, much like the Hawks once were.

The other side of the film would focus on the original crew, now playing on an adult-league team coached by Bombay. The guys would have grown up to be successful in their adult lives, thanks to the shift in focus from winning to teamwork fun as the original films progressed.

Along with the success in their day-to-day lives, the hobbies of the original crew would be shown. Among these would be reflecting on their “glory days” of hockey, watching their children play for their former team and playing their own games. – Andrew Wisneski

10 best Saturday Night Live alumni who have never hosted

Last season was the first since 2009-10 in which no Saturday Night Live alumni were invited back for their first hosting stint. Kristen Wiig (Nov. 19) and Jimmy Fallon (April 15) had each done it before.

While it is natural and advisable to enlist outside talent for the majority of its episodes, SNL always does itself a favor when its bar-setters meet its dreamers. There is an added element of novelty when a performer from a prior reemerges as a first-time nucleus of the week.

It gives incumbent cast members a crack at a supporting part in a classic recurring sketch they likely watched in admiration before their audition. It also gives the alum a chance to experience firsthand some new routines and characters their successors have whipped out to prolong the program’s prowess.

Based on a combination of their own SNL legacy and subsequent careers, here are the 10 alums most worthy of a chance to join the all-time roster of hosts.

10. David Koechner

Koechner’s one-year run at SNL in 1995-96 started his inadvertent tradition of performing under Will Ferrell’s shadow. From their respective imprints on the show to their parts in such films as Anchorman and Semi-Pro, that is just how the distribution of recognition has shaken out.

Currently, though, Koechner and the rest of the cast of CBS’ Superior Donuts are poised for their first full year after a successful midseason launch. In the last 21 years, he has made brief appearances on nearly 60 programs, but his returns to SNL have been confined to unannounced guest spots. He has long paid his dues for an upgrade on that front.

9. Horatio Sanz

Four months ago, Sanz returned to NBC as part of the ensemble cast of Great News. With that show’s first full season slated to open in another month, the network can capitalize by bringing Fallon’s old breaking batterymate back to his launching pad.

8. Rob Riggle

A one-year wonder from 2004-05, Riggle started to draw more attention to his comical exuberance upon turning to The Daily Show. He has since put it on repeated display through a slew of small movie parts (e.g. The Hangover), recurring or one-off TV guest spots (e.g. Modern Family) and endorsements (e.g. Holiday Inn).

In terms of getting him back to Rockefeller Plaza, the chief drawback is Riggle’s lack of genuine centerpiece roles. But that is not an automatic disqualifier. And if there is any way to spin sufficient relevance, his caffeinated presence would keep the audience alert right through the 1 a.m. curtain call.

7. Jenny Slate

Coming off a change of pace in the largely acclaimed movie, Gifted, Slate has sculpted a strong decade since being a one-and-done SNLer in 2009-10.

In terms of cumulative appearances, her voice role as Tammy on Bob’s Burgers has now exceeded her time at SNL for the largest piece of her TV pie. That leaves her with more or less the same complication as Riggle.

But Sarah Silverman, who also lasted one year on the cast (1993-94), was not plugging much in particular when she hosted a 2014 episode. Slate should have her own chance to return to her old haunts and make them a measuring pole for her career.

6. Nasim Pedrad

A supporting regular on People of Earth (more on that to come), Pedrad is also confirmed for a prominent role in the underway Aladdin film. According to the Hollywood Reporter, she will be banked on specifically for her comedic competence in the live-action adaptation.

Those who saw her fifth and final SNL season would hardly be shocked to hear that. Pedrad left after that year with viewers wishing there could have been more of the Shallon character she had just broken out. And there could still be more, provided Lorne Michaels picks up the phone and dials the right buttons.

5. Micaela Watkins

Due to its Hulu home base, Casual has reached a slimmer audience than any network or basic cable program could. With that said, it has drawn an appreciative following through its first two seasons.

As the centerpiece of the series, Watkins is proudly representing the Saturday Night Live alumni among those in the “Oh, yeah” category. She was a midseason addition in 2008-09, and was done by that summer.

But there is plenty of precedent for those who did not leave on the highest of notes to return as a host. And since SNL also archives itself on Hulu, there is the extra perk of potential for cross-promotion.

4. Will Forte

The Last Man on Earth had a premise that logically was not meant to grow legs. Yet it is coming back for a fourth season, a monumental credit to Forte, who has logged six award nominations alone for his part.

Meanwhile, with Bobby Moynihan’s departure, Kenan Thompson is the only holdover from Forte’s SNL tenure, which ended in 2010. Isn’t anyone curious to see how Kate McKinnon or Leslie Jones, two Ghostbusters co-stars whose talent will soon outgrow the show, could fit into a “MacGruber” sketch?

3. Jason Sudeikis

Forte’s onscreen brother on Last Man, Sudeikis had less success with his Fox sitcom, Son of Zorn. Nonetheless, he remains a prolific movie star who has impressively broadened his horizons to the dramatic sphere.

Among the major cast departures dating back to 2012, Sudeikis is a glaring omission in that Fred Armisen, Bill Hader, Andy Samberg and Wiig have all returned to host. Those who followed his eight-year run know he is worth much more than a short-order guest cameo as Mitt Romney.

“Maine Justice,” in particular, was cut off as a recurring sketch when it still had a nearly full tank. It has also been a while since we have seen any “Song Memories,” where his presence is not necessarily essential, though his SNL tenure did envelope every installment.

2. Ana Gasteyer

Her TBS sitcom, People of Earth, has taken flight, currently at the halfway mark of its second season. The last episode of that season will premiere around the same time that SNL goes live again.

Those overlapping occasions call for a celebration, maybe with something from “Delicious Dish.” Gasteyer’s costar from that sketch, Molly Shannon, has hosted once, but it has been a decade since then. They both guest starred and brought back the bit when Betty White hosted, but it has been seven years since.

Long underrated, both during and after her SNL stretch, Gastayer is finally scoring as a sitcom star. It is time her comedy alma mater gave her an equivalent opportunity for one week.

1. Seth Meyers

The Weekend Update record-holder never went far after leaving at midseason in the winter of 2014. As the host of Late Night, Meyers has built on his established forte as a deskbound topical humorist. Likewise, his new genre reaffirms that he could deliver a top-notch monologue.

But as hard as it may be to forget, in his first five seasons on the cast, Meyers performed in actual sketches as well. With the ample attention on the cable news that is not inclined to recede in the slightest, any time would be a good time for him to bring back his Anderson Cooper impression.

And who wouldn’t like to see a revival of the “Appalachian Emergency Room,” a sketch that ended six years before any current cast members other than Thompson joined?

Ex-sitcom stars who should follow Jennifer Aniston back to TV

 

Jennifer Aniston is reportedly the next A-lister seeking seconds on the small screen. The Hollywood Reporter’s Lesley Goldberg wrote last week that the former Friends ensemble staple is teaming with fellow movie mainstay Reese Witherspoon for a series revolving around a fictitious morning talk show.

The finer details of the show, and whether anyone will even pick it up, remain to be seen. But assuming Aniston returns to sitcom acting, in addition to executive producing, her perceived success will hinge on the angle a given viewer takes.

As long as no one is holding it too high up the Friends measuring pole, it ought to have a fair shot at achieving respectability. What it does to live up to that standard is, well, up to its own creative minds.

Regardless, Aniston’s former castmate, Courteney Cox, mustered six seasons as both the protagonist and co-executive producer on Cougar Town. Elsewhere, Seinfeld alum Julia Louis Dreyfus cracked the old show’s supposed “curse” via The New Adventures of Old Christine, and is still shattering it with Veep. Former Seinfeld executive producer Larry David later proved his mettle as a lead actor on Curb Your Enthusiasm.

Ed O’Neill went from 11 years of Married…with Children to 12 years of minor film credits to (so far) eight years of Modern Family. Rashida Jones has reeled off her supporting success on Parks and Recreation to land the title part on Angie Tribeca.

Aniston may have garnered more movie fame than each of the aforementioned, but those other track records prove that this reported move is far from daring.

In that spirit, the Pucks and Rec writers have selected their own handful of former sitcom staples who would make top-shelf candidates for another go-round, whether that’s behind the scenes, before the camera or both.

Steve Carell

Carell has been focusing on movies since leaving The Office after eight years in 2013, he has been focusing on movies. But his sense of humor and sarcasm is well-suited for television, as he can display his personality more.

In The Office, he often had the opportunity to chime in on events happening in the world and country while the show was being filmed. He also would make numerous references to pop culture, sports and different fads of the time.

In his movie roles, he has not enjoyed as much free reign, so a return to TV would be welcomed by those who enjoy his type of humor. – Andrew Wisneski

Mila Kunis

It has been nearly three years since Kunis cofounded Orchard Farm Productions in association with ABC Studios. But while the former That ’70s Show standout has continued acting in movies and as a voice regular on Family Guy, nothing definitive with her executive-production imprint has come to life yet.

ABC could have an easy sparkplug to the solution in Sarah Hyland, who as Haley Dunphy emitted a mild Jackie Burkhart vibe in Modern Family’s formative years. In multiple interviews over this decade, Hyland has been apt to embrace the comparisons to Kunis.

While Modern Family still has at least two seasons yet to come, it will end eventually. When it does, a new show with Kunis and Hyland as sisters is all but obligatory.

If the two were both full-timers in front of the camera, it may be hard to ward off comparisons to Frasier and its old dynamic of Kelsey Grammer and deuteragonist David Hyde Pierce. But that would be a small price to pay. – Al Daniel

Jerry Seinfeld

Since his eponymous NBC show ended, Seinfeld has tried a few other projects, such as the stand-up documentary, Comedian. He was also the star in the animated Bee Movie, where he reunited with several former Seinfeld mainstays, including Michael Richards and Patrick Warburton.

Despite continuing his stand-up career, Seinfeld could benefit more by bringing his observational comedy back to a wider audience. With his web-based talk series, Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee, now on Netflix, he could think about using that opportunity to parlay back to the small screen, perhaps with a mix of some fellow Seinfeld alums and a new cast of characters. – John Morton

Will Smith

Smith broke into the acting scene with the title role on Fresh Prince of Bel Air. He spent six seasons on the show, and was nominated for two Golden Globes during his tenure. 

As the ’90s rolled along, Smith’s performance spring-boarded him from being known as a rapper into someone who is now more well known for his acting. He has since starred in movies like Men in Black, I am Legend and Suicide Squad. 

In order to attract Smith to return to the small screen, a role would likely have to be made just for him, and he would probably want to direct the program as well. This would likely make money for the network, though, as the Fresh Prince was a hit, and plenty of people will want to watch Smith for the nostalgia. – Zach Green

Life After Hockey: Shannon Desrosiers rearing, rooting, running, resting and repeating

Former Clarkson co-coach Shannon Desrosiers translates ample energy to top-shelf results on the marathon track and support for her family and community.

(Photo courtesy of Shannon Desrosiers)

Shannon Desrosiers could not linger for too many victory laps and photo ops. The day had brought a special sports memory, but there were other commitments in other towns, states and countries to get to before she reunited with a bed.

Saturday, April 22, all but defied Desrosiers’ almanac. A practical microcosm of her life since leaving her co-coaching post at Clarkson University, the day stole June 21’s material as the longest of her 2017.

The day packed a party for which nearly every element to enrich her existence came over in varied time slots. There was her family, her alma mater and her adulthood community early on. Then there was her competitive streak and her love of running.

In the aftermath of her first-place finish in the women’s division of St. Lawrence County’s inaugural Maple Run, her native Canada dropped in. That cleared a path for her love of hockey to enter the itinerary.

“Not very often you can run a half-marathon, hustle home to shower and drive to Montreal to get on a plane for the coaches convention in Naples,” Desrosiers said with a smile in an interview with Pucks and Recreation.

The Maple Run — orchestrated by former Clarkson cross country and Nordic skiing coach Amanda Stopa Goldstein — began two-and-a-half hours after sunrise at 8:30 a.m. Held in the county seat of Canton, the race took Desrosiers, along with a host of fellow Clarkson and St. Lawrence connections, through SLU’s campus trail.

“A very challenging course,” the 18-year veteran resident of Upstate New York’s North Country stressed.

Desrosiers was done before 10:30, clocking in at one hour, 20 minutes and 55 seconds. “It was one of my best times,” she said, “and I am happy to have an event like this in the North Country.”

But just as happy to embark on a business trip before the afterglow could taper off. Upon accepting her medal and maple-heavy prize package, Desrosiers darted home to shower, then made the two-hour trek across the border to Montreal.

From there, it was another five-plus hours of flying to Florida for the subsequent week’s annual American Hockey Coaches Association convention.

Yes, three years after she relinquished her half of the Golden Knights coaching duties with her husband, Matt, Desrosiers’ counsel is still coveted by Clarkson and the college hockey community. She cannot help but oblige as much as her current lifestyle will permit.

“I miss a lot about coaching,” she admits. “The dedication of the players, the effort at practices, the competition of the games.

“But for right now, I am really happy that our kids and I can be some of the team’s biggest fans.”

Tradeoffs and trophies

Five weeks before the Maple Run, Desrosiers took a break from training to watch her former pupils secure their all-time best single-season record (32-4-5) and their own crowning glory in Missouri.

Three years earlier, Matt and Shannon Desrosiers had guided Clarkson to its first NCAA title in Hamden, Conn. Then-two-year-old daughter Brynn was on hand for the clincher and celebration, while son Brody was three months away from birth.

Now with the five-year-old Brynn and two-going-on-three Brody by her side, Shannon had a reverse angle for the encore championship. All three were in the green-and-gold sector of St. Charles’ Family Arena for wins over Minnesota and Wisconsin.

“It was just as awesome, but in a different way,” Desrosiers said. “Obviously, the first was special because it was the first, and also because it is amazing to share and work towards something like that with your spouse.

“But it is also really fulfilling to know that the hard work Matt puts in now — the days away recruiting, the things he misses with our kids, the late nights doing video — are all worth it.”

While travel is a necessary evil of the occupation, the Desrosiers kids never miss the glamorous products of Matt’s work. When applicable, webcasts for the Clarkson road games are a staple on the weekend schedule back home. And Shannon, being Shannon, often multitasks by hopping on her treadmill while watching the action.

Days featuring a matinee away game tend to entail a movie night for the three back in Potsdam. That is unless the Clarkson men are at home, in which case a family outing to Cheel Arena is on tap. Those nights are complete with the pregame buffet in the beloved Barben room perched above the rink.

Otherwise, the three are dining with friends or getting out to a youth hockey commitment. Shannon volunteers with the Potsdam Minor Hockey Association, and Brynn and Brody are already taking fundamental lessons.

“Both are loving the game and really taking off,” she marveled.

That regimen, along with a varied spread of offseason activity, speaks to the parents’ propensities reaching the offspring without fail. The only aspects to change between the two generations are the country, time zone and nearest mountain range.

Speedy Saints, knowledgeable Knights

For the first half of her life so far, Desrosiers (nee Smith) built her endurance against the elements of Fernie, B.C., near the Alberta border in the thick of the Canadian Rockies. Fernie sits at an elevation more than seven times that of Potsdam and nearly nine times that of Canton. A short distance from the U.S. border in Montana, it has been dubbed a “Crown of the Continent” by the National Geographic Society for its numerous and rigorous recreation options.

On top of that, the town of barely 5,000 has produced seven NHL players in the last half-century. One of them, 1999 Hobey Baker Award winner Jason Krog, had an upbringing there that overlapped with Smith’s.

For the locals, the definitive winter sport was the natural thing to do when the summer attractions were out of season. The rest of the time, those other sites could make for a wholesome staycation.

“Hockey was always No. 1, but I always loved running,” Desrosiers said. “I did middle-distance events in track in high school, as running long distances wasn’t conducive for hockey training, but I loved any type of running, biking, tennis, water sports, being outside. Anything active, really. We are also at a way higher elevation, so that helped. I also loved to ski and snowboard.”

As a forward for her hometown Fernie Bladerunners, Shannon Smith caught the attention of then-St. Lawrence coach Ron Waske in the 1999 recruiting cycle. Her arrival in Canton coincided with that of Paul Flanagan, who supplanted Waske and promptly delivered the Saints’ first winning season in six years.

With Smith as a consistent top-sixer, SLU rose to a perennial 20-win range and reached the first NCAA women’s hockey championship game in 2001. She co-captained the team to a 22-9-4 finish as a senior.

Meanwhile, amidst Smith’s freshman year, a two-way junior defenseman from Fort Erie, Ont., named Matt Desrosiers was helping the men’s team to a 2000 ECAC playoff title and Frozen Four appearance. The Skating Saints repeated as ECAC champs and nabbed their third straight national tournament bid in Desrosiers’ senior year.

Upon her own graduation two years later, Smith stayed in the shade of the Adirondacks and moved up the street to rival Clarkson. She promptly began her coaching career as an assistant under Rick Seeley for the women’s program’s inception in 2003-04.

Following a five-year minor-league playing career, Matt Desrosiers joined Seeley’s cabinet in the same capacity in 2006. A year later, Smith took the Desrosiers surname, and within another year, both had taken Seeley’s job at the helm.

The Desrosiers duo made instant headlines for being the first coaching couple in U.S. women’s college hockey. (Maine’s Sara and Richard Reichenbach have since matched the distinction.) But they also kept busy chasing goals in their other chief athletic passion.

In the summer following their first year as co-head coaches, Shannon placed No. 118 in a field of 2,247 at Lake Placid’s 2009 Ironman triathlon. That, followed by an impressive showing at Ironman Canada in her native province, earned her a ticket to Hawaii for the 2010 World Ironman Championship.

In 2012, within three months of bearing Brynn, she was back in the Canadian Rockies for the centennial Calgary Stampede, where she logged a 1:26:31 time in the half-marathon. The illustrious Boston Marathon and other out-of-state events have made their way to her transcript as well.

In between, she and Matt had brought Clarkson to its first NCAA tournament in 2010. A temporary recession in the win column gave way to a program-best 28-win campaign in 2012-13. The Golden Knights followed that with a repeat at-large tournament bid, then used it to break their own year-old record with their 29th, 30th and 31st wins on the year.

The 31st, a 5-4 upset that disrupted a dynasty from Minnesota, brought the first NCAA championship for any non-WCHA team. It was also Shannon’s last game, as she intended to turn the bulk of her focus to raising Brynn and the forthcoming Brody.

Besides her informal frequenting of Cheel Arena with the kids, Shannon continues to serve Clarkson as a stewardship liaison in donor relations. Meanwhile, under Matt’s continued guidance, the Golden Knights have not looked back, becoming a steady presence in the exclusive eight-team bracket. No other program in the Eastern Time Zone managed to throw another sledge at the championship barrier before they took their second swing this past spring.

With their 3-0 shutout of the Badgers on March 19, they eclipsed their previous best with 32 wins on the year. Two days later, with the trophy on campus and the family back home, the Vernal Equinox heralded a turn of the page and a reversal in rooting roles.

Winter of contentment, glorious summer

Besides raising funds for local athletic programs, the minds behind the Maple Run tout the race as a way “to celebrate the end of Winter.” But Shannon Desrosiers’ April 22 day-ending getaway to a puck-focused gathering properly signaled that, in a way, winter is never truly over. For the rest of the year, her household hosts a cousin of the kinetic instincts that come in handy against biting cold.

“It’s a different hectic,” she explained. “Matt has way more time with our family which is fun.  We are still busy running around to sports and camps and enjoying summer. We live on the lake, so our kids love swimming, boating and tubing. They also still love to get on the ice whenever they can, so having access to that is awesome.”

As for her competitive running, the fall and winter tune-up did not culminate in the Maple Run any more than a NASCAR driver’s offseason builds solely toward Daytona. After Shannon spent the 2017 Frozen Four by Brynn and Brody’s side, the parents’ positions switched for the local race.

But a month later, Matt took his opportunity to make the Buffalo half-marathon more like the 2014 Frozen Four and its eight preceding hockey seasons. The two were co-competing again, though the outcome, at least in terms of the leaderboard, was more like that of the 2010 and 2013 tournaments.

Shannon placed second in her division at Buffalo, logging the same 1:20 time as she had in the less crowded Canton field. “My goal was to break 1:20, which I did,” she said. “I think I was about 10 seconds shy, which in running is significant.”

Meanwhile, Matt took one hour and 25 minutes to finish his Buffalo run. You could forgive the implicit rust. He was just coming off his first NCAA hockey championship campaign as a solo head coach, then a healthy scratch for the first half-marathon ever held in his adulthood home county.

“It is nice to have him as a training partner in the offseason,” Shannon said, “and it is still something we can do together.”

Though their athletic itch is all but insatiable, the Desrosiers have savored their summers with stints in cruise control. Last year, they marked their 10th wedding anniversary in Europe, and the company of their connections in the county never loses its appeal.

As one compromise in her split from formal coaching, Shannon savors a little more of the latter than Matt year-round. But just like the occasional half-marathon, the window of warmer weather is open to both halves of the Clarkson dynasty’s founding tandem.

“I love having people over, especially in the summer,” she says. “Matt likes to play guitar when he can, and we both like great food and a good glass of wine.”

The 2017 offseason will cut off a tad earlier than normal for the Desrosiers household. In a minor drawback to the rewards of success, Matt has been named an assistant coach for Canada’s 18-and-under national development team. The select squad will have a nine-day training camp in early August, then shuffle to Lake Placid for the annual three-game set against its American counterpart later in the month.

That will subsequently segue into the start of the 2017-18 college season. But just as NFL training camps pique a puckhead’s anticipation of what will soon follow, the starting line of Clarkson’s intended road to a repeat means the next exit is for Shannon and her long trek of preparation to defend her Maple Run medal.

“Next race, I want to break 1:19,” she said. “My goal is to just keep getting faster.”

J.P. Vigier is not ‘lion’ when he says Simba still speaks to him

J.P. Vigier was a 17-year-old playing junior hockey in his native Manitoba when The Lion King hit North American theaters. In another two years, his dues in the MJHL would pay off in a ticket to college at Northern Michigan University.

Granted, Disney’s loose, kid-friendly adaptation of Hamlet hardly made a motivational difference in Vigier’s career, which would amount to 12 professional seasons and 213 games with the Atlanta Thrashers. But to this day, his absorption and assessment of the film speaks to his split stance over the boyhood-adulthood threshold he crossed in the mid-’90s.

“It really moved me and made me believe that anything is possible,” he told Pucks and Recreation. When pressed for more, he added, “The Lion King still hits home with dealing with adversity and being true to yourself.”

As late as his second full season in the pros, Vigier was proclaiming himself a “kid at heart” for his lasting interest in animated movies. He said as much in his profile in the 2001-02 Chicago Wolves yearbook.

Fast-forward 15 years, and he admits that passion has somewhat receded. Today, he has reunited with his old NHL employer in their current incarnation back in his native province, covering the Jets for TSN 1290 radio. In the offseason, which he insists is nonexistent for him nowadays, he runs an elite youth hockey camp, which affords him little time to explore any touted summer releases.

Nonetheless, Vigier has kept a little of his inner critic and his profound takeaways from the Simba saga, among other past delights. Much like the game he played for a living until 2012, he has decelerated the activity, but kept the memories and lessons to transmit to another generation.

To that effect, he fielded the following breakaway shots from Pucks and Rec.

Do you think an animated movie could, let alone should, ever win an Oscar for best picture?

“To win best picture, I feel there must be real characters in it, and most animation is now computer generated.”

Do you have any kids, nieces or nephews that you’ve instilled this passion to?

“Both my daughters enjoy watching a good movie with a bowl of popcorn. I see them getting carried away with the story and feel the pain and gain of the show they watch.”

It is now a common practice at pro hockey games to flash TV or movie clips on the jumbo screen, usually in a tongue-in-cheek manner. Are there any you particularly enjoy seeing at Bell MTS Place?

“Most of the tongue-in-cheek makes me laugh, but I don’t think there is one that is standing that far out front of the others.”

Can you think of anybody you played with or any current NHL player who would make a great film character?

“Darcy Hordichuk (Thrashers winger from 2000 to 2002)…He had many sides to him, and was always there for a good laugh.”

Many goalies have painted noteworthy cartoon characters on their masks. Do you have a favorite among those?

“None of those really hit home to me. I was about the character persevering and overcoming a battle. That was what hit home for me. Those long-shot stories reminded me to always keep working for what you really wanted.”

At your hockey camp, do you ever find yourself joining in conversations about movies?

“It does not happen as often as it used to, as kids now see movies that I have not seen. Or, when they throw out the funny lines, I am not up to date. So I tend to stay away unless they talk about the older shows. I guess that makes me old.” 

-          Eugene Helfrick

Dave Goucher talks Rhode Island sports scene’s past, present, future

(Photo courtesy of Dave Goucher)

Dave Goucher is on the all-time roster of Pawtucket Red Sox announcers in much the same way David Ortiz is on the all-time roster of Pawtucket Red Sox players.

Both men had cemented their place in the top echelon of their respective fields when they came for a cameo performance at the home of Boston baseball’s Triple-A partner. Ortiz was coming off his second World Series championship when he made a three-game rehab appearance in July of 2008. He and the MLB Red Sox were on their way to a third title when he played six more Triple-A games in April of 2013.

Four months later, Goucher brought his skills to McCoy Stadium in Pawtucket, R.I., coming off his 12th season as the Boston Bruins radio announcer. He showed up for a mid-August game against Louisville, then another versus Syracuse two weeks later.

But whereas Ortiz and a host of other Boston baseballers come to McCoy for restoration, Goucher’s guest gigs in the booth were a time for reflection. At that point, he was coming off a sprinting marathon in his full-time job. The Bruins had crammed 70 games into a five-month window between the end of a season-shortening lockout and the 2013 Stanley Cup Final.

Before that, he had called the team’s 2011 championship run. He had even worked a game at the home of the PawSox’ parent club, Fenway Park, when the Bruins hosted the 2010 NHL Winter Classic.

But as a former intern with Rhode Island’s minor-league ball club, he had a game in the McCoy booth sitting next to an unchecked box with no flexibility for substitutes.

“Going back to call a few games there in 2013 kind of brought things full circle for me,” he said in an email to Pucks and Recreation. “It was only a couple of months after the Bruins had lost in the Stanley Cup Final to Chicago, and I kept thinking about how much my life had changed from the time I worked at McCoy (1987) until then.”

Born and raised in Pawtucket, four miles north of Providence, Goucher was experiencing a homecoming of the highest order. “From the booth,” he remarked, “I could see past the right field fence to the old McLean Trucking building where my father worked when I was a kid.”

And he was calling the action for a franchise that has existed for almost as long as he has. The PawSox began as a Double-A team in the Eastern League in 1970, then were elevated to the International League in 1973.

In Goucher’s top sport of choice, the local sports scene soon reprised a practice of taking an associated Boston team’s uniform and simply substituting a “P” for a “B.” The Providence Bruins took root as the Hub’s new American Hockey League base in 1992. It marked the area’s first claim to a pro hockey franchise since the AHL’s Reds left for Binghamton, N.Y., in 1977.

By the time the P-Bruins were inaugurated, Goucher was a senior and a student-sportscaster at Boston University. Over his Christmas break that year, he opportunistically took in a game at the Providence Civic Center, but admits that “I never would have thought I’d actually be calling the games three years later.”

Yet after graduating and breaking into the broadcasting ranks with the ECHL’s Wheeling Nailers, he got that opportunity. He would man the Civic Center booth for the next five seasons before successfully pursuing an opening at the Boston Bruins radio network.

Since that time, Goucher has garnered his share of celebrity. Besides his play-by-play duties at the TD Garden, he has amused listeners on 98.5 The Sports Hub with his recurring “Dave Goucher Goes to the Movies” segment on a weekday talk show. There, he channels his vocational energy to lend unique commentary to classic film and TV clips. When the Bruins are out of action, he has enjoyed freelance NHL playoff assignments for Westwood One and college hockey for the NBC Sports Network.

All the while, key constants have stuck back home. The PawSox are in their 45th IL season, while the P-Bruins just finished their 25th campaign. Only Rochester, N.Y., with baseball’s Red Wings dating back to 1899 and the AHL’s Americans since 1956, has sustained the same Triple-A baseball-hockey combination longer than the Rhode Island market.

In addition, with their Boston ties, Providence and Pawtucket claim the longest active affiliations in their respective sports.

“The long run for both the P-Bruins and the PawSox is a great testament to how knowledgeable, caring and passionate sports fans are in Rhode Island,” Goucher said. “I think they take great pride in knowing that their respective teams are the last step on the way to big-league careers for players. I grew up within walking distance of McCoy Stadium and still remember seeing Wade Boggs, Marty Barrett and Roger Clemens all play in Pawtucket.”

Hoping for a Pawtucket perk-up

Given the decades of tradition, it jarred many local minds and even more hearts when an out-of-state relocation looked palpable for the PawSox. Just like Fenway, McCoy Stadium is the oldest baseball venue at its level, currently celebrating its 75th year. Attendance has steadily sagged despite general on-field success, and complicated renovate-or-replace tugs-of-verbal-war have erupted.

As the team’s previous lease was nearing its end, CEO Larry Lucchino of the parent club initiated a push for a park in downtown Providence. After that 2015 outline — which would have come to fruition this year — fell through within months, speculation proliferated over a slew of cities in neighboring Massachusetts and Connecticut.

That notion drew natural upset from Rhode Island’s sentimental seamheads, but it is a more personal matter for Pawtucket citizens.

With a legacy from the cotton and textile boom that precipitated the Industrial Revolution, Pawtucket prides itself on its marked blue-collar heritage. Dwarfed by the cultured capital and county namesake in population by more than 100,000, it validates its status as its own city by harboring the state’s favorite ball club.

At the time of Lucchino’s Pawtucket-to-Providence proposition, even before the trajectory went from out-of-city to out-of-state, a sense of lost lifeblood took hold. Pawtucket mayor Donald Grebien told the local press that the announcement “just took the air out of the room.”

Goucher weighed in on Twitter by calling the occasion “An unnecessary, sad day for my hometown.”

Two years later, though, all earthshaking changes are on hold. The Triple-A Red Sox renewed their McCoy lease through 2020, and are now using the time they bought to seek a state-of-the-art facility in their lifelong town.

In late April, Lucchino unveiled a proposed multifaceted, year-round recreation district for downtown. If approved, the natural nucleus would be McCoy’s replacement, which would add punctuation to the Boston connection with its own version of Fenway’s hallowed Green Monster.

Other existing or proposed aspects of the complex would be geared toward keeping the historic Slater Mill neighborhood sleepless every summer day. To supplement the calendar, Lucchino’s group is including none other than a community hockey rink in the package.

For Goucher, a former youth puckster in town, that blueprint is all but his boyhood in one panoramic Polaroid. But he is more interested in his hometown’s future health.

“The new ballpark near Slater Mill would play a vital role in helping revitalize downtown Pawtucket,” he said. “The ice rink piece of it is an added bonus.”

Separate cities, similar stories

Goucher and fellow Pawtucket residents have seen the likes of this pattern before. During the franchise’s wee phases in the mid-’70s, the fan support and stadium conditions fueled and reeked of eventual bankruptcy. Relocation appeared inevitable until some arm-twisting convinced the late Ben Mondor to take a chance.

The affectionate expression “PawSox” did not even come to life until Mondor owned the team. But over time, he formed a revered front-office troika with club president Mike Tamburro and general manager Lou Schweccheimer. Throughout three-plus decades, they made McCoy an appealing choice for a family outing and gradually added more seats, modern amenities and extravagant murals dedicated to the on-field alumni.

By the second decade of that era, Goucher got in on the Mondor-Tamburro-Schweccheimer combination’s second-family feel as a high-school intern in the summer of 1987. Players of note that season included Brady Anderson, Todd Benzinger, Ellis Burks, Oil Can Boyd and Sam Horn.

“My fondest memories of working at McCoy are just the people involved, led by Ben and Mike and Lou,” Goucher said. “They took the time to actually learn your name.”

Goucher worked primarily in concessions, an ostensibly thankless position given its setup away from view of the field. But he was also on call for reinforcement with the grounds crew whenever inclement weather lurked.

“We had to be ready to pull the tarp if the skies opened up,” he recalled. “If they didn’t, we got to stand there and watch the game and get paid for it!”

Eight years later, not long after a pack of Providence investors followed the PawSox pattern, Goucher’s green came from standing, watching and describing quality minor-league action in Rhode Island’s other premier sports facility. In some ways, the establishment that granted that job did for Providence what he now hopes can happen for Pawtucket.

The old Rhode Island Reds bolted in the summer of 1977, ironically the first year of McCoy’s Mondor revival. It took 15 years for hockey to come back at the behest of the late Providence mayor Buddy Cianci. When it did, a multitude of new downtown attractions followed in a manner that cemented the capital’s “Renaissance City” moniker.

Having now finished their first quarter-century of operation, the P-Bruins boast the third-longest tenure of any AHL brand. Support has been sustainable through thick and thin, both of which Goucher witnessed firsthand during his stint. He called a 19-win, last-place season in 1997-98, followed by a Calder Cup championship in 1999.

“I think 25 years for the P-Bruins in Providence is an exceptional accomplishment,” he remarked. “During my five years there, the team routinely led the AHL in attendance, proving just how passionate hockey fans are in Rhode Island, dating back to the days of the Reds. And I think fans like the fact they can see a player in Providence one night and, theoretically, in Boston the next.”

With his own career chronicle, Goucher has added the precedent of potentially hearing a future NHL announcer on his last stepping stone. In the ’80s, he enjoyed watching Barrett’s and Boggs’ slugging and Clemens’ fireballing before the Fenway faithful did.

In the latter half of the ’90s, he more or less returned a favor. His fellow Rhode Islanders heard his thorough pre-faceoff descriptions of each team’s jersey and contrasting excitement for a Bruins goal and trademark deflated deadpan for an opposing tally before the rest of New England could.

‘Enormous pride’

Time will grade the merit of the perpetual curmudgeonly complaint that sportscasters are not what they used to be. For now, Goucher’s former haunts are proof that tomorrow’s top-level announcers are not groomed under the same conditions that he was.

P-Bruins listeners can no longer use a physical radio to take in the action, as audio and video webcasts are the sole method of dissemination. On the flipside, as long as they have Wi-Fi, fans need not be in Southern New England to stay up to speed.

The resultant outreach is greater in number, but the overall signal quality can be erratic. In addition, under league auspices rather than that of a local outlet, the personal flavor has wilted.

It is not what it was when Goucher was calling games on WPRO-630, the Providence market’s signature station. Those presentations were complete with a complementing color commentator, a half-hour pregame show and a postgame wrap. Today’s broadcasts are typically accessible from five minutes before faceoff until the immediate aftermath of the final horn, and the play-by-play voice usually flies solo.

The PawSox have pounced on the luxuries of the Internet as well, but still partner with a slew of stations throughout the region. However, the expressed kinship between the state’s two Triple-A franchises is a shell of its old self. (Although the P-Bruins did observe a moment of silence before their 2010-11 season opener, five days after Mondor’s passing.)

Six months after Goucher got his start in Providence, Pawtucket enlisted another play-by-play prodigy in Don Orsillo. A former employee of Springfield’s AHL teams, Orsillo found his long-term niche in baseball and began a four-season run with the PawSox in 1996. A year later, the team found a new flagship radio abode in WLKW-790, a sister station to WPRO and a backup channel for P-Bruins games at the time.

Goucher and Orsillo’s brotherhood as broadcasters came to reflect the sorority of their stations. The dreams of the two twentysomethings manifestly matched those of the various Boston prospects they covered.

“Occasionally we’d get together, have a beer and wonder if we were ever going to make it,” Goucher recalled.

By the turn of the century, both men’s ambitions were fulfilled. Orsillo was off to the New England Sports Network in the spring of 2000, Goucher to WBZ-1030 the subsequent fall.

Goucher’s elevation to Boston made him the second P-Bruins alumnus to find NHL employment in his field. Joe Beninati called the franchise’s first two seasons on WPRO before becoming the Washington Capitals’ TV play-by-play man in 1994.

The PawSox, two decades the P-Bruins’ senior, have a denser scroll of distinguished alumni. In their own sport, they have honed Major League personalities Gary Cohen, Dave Flemming, Andy Freed, Glenn Geffner, Aaron Goldsmith, Dave Jageler, Jeff Levering and Dave Shea.

Orsillo’s predecessor as NESN’s Red Sox broadcaster, Bob Kurtz, is another PawSox product, and has long since settled in with the NHL’s Minnesota Wild. Football has Dan Hoard of the Cincinnati Bengals and Bob Socci of the New England Patriots, the Bruins’ Sports Hub cohabitants.

But Goucher, the belated addition to that celestial roster, is one of the few who has known the team and the park since childhood. If he has any influence, there may be more of his kind to come. Last July, as part of Boston’s Play by Play Sports Broadcasting Camp, he took the campers on a day trip to see the PawSox host the Red Wings.

Whether any of those campers will one day call the team by the same name in the same town remains to be seen. Schweccheimer and Tamburro have gone elsewhere since selling the keys to Lucchino and company. Ample debate, both economic and emotional, among state officials and constituents will sway the proposed “Pride of Pawtucket.”

Four years after Goucher viewed elements of his childhood from the McCoy press box, he refrains from investing in crystal balls. Instead, the city’s most recognizable product in the sports world only hopes there is much more ahead for the city’s only pro sports entity.

“The team is part of the fabric of the city, something the city takes enormous pride in,” he concluded. “I don’t have a great understanding of the finances involved, but it’s hard for me to envision that team playing in another city.”