When I started college, I knew I wanted to try journalism, but wasn’t exactly sure what route I wanted to take. During my junior year, I had a class with Herald editor Mike Jacobs. The class was held in the Herald offices and featured a lot of hands-on type of work. The following summer, I started an internship with the Herald sports department and knew right away that newspapers were for me.
I grew up playing just about every sport I could find. I learned a lot of things that drew me to sports also existed in journalism. There was competition – a daily battle against your local news competitors – and the Herald had a staff of fiercely competitive individuals. There was teamwork involved. You had to come up with game plans with your fellow reporters, editors and page designers. You all banded together to accomplish a common goal. And you constantly looked to innovate and get an edge on the competition with a new and better way of doing things. I felt at home and knew journalism was for me.
I started as a part-time worker in sports, then my first full-time job at the Herald was with the news department. In the fall of 2005, the Herald’s Hall of Fame hockey writer Virg Foss retired and I was moved from news to the hockey beat. I started the same year UND had 13 freshmen. Three of them – Jonathan Toews, T.J. Oshie and Taylor Chorney – now have Stanley Cup rings and another, Ryan Duncan, won the Hobey Baker Award. I’ve been doing it ever since, covering every UND hockey game – home and road – for more than a decade. That’s more than 500 games in a row.
My favorite part of the job is telling stories about inspirational people, whether it’s the athletes themselves or those who have shaped them along the way. When I cover games on the road, I enjoy trying to bring fans along on trips through words.
Outside of work, I enjoy playing tennis or pickleball. I enjoy reading and studying history. I also enjoy reading all of the great journalism that’s being produced across the country.
