A Night Behind The Scenes at a Philadelphia Flyers Game in The Big House

In addition to being a big Flyers fan and self-professed expert about the team and hockey in general, I have had the privilege of working numerous events over the past three seasons as a freelancer for 3601 Event Productions, formerly known (but still referred to) as ArenaVision.

So far in my time at ArenaVision, it has proved difficult to break into a control room or camera operator position even though I perform these tasks on a daily basis at my full-time job.  So I have largely remained a cable puller, the guy roaming the stands along with the cameraman in search of fans to put up on the big screen hanging over center ice.

Yes, I would greatly prefer to be in the broadcast booth or press row, but I am glad to have the experiences that I do at this point of my life and career.  Who knows what the future may hold?

My most recent assignment was Thursday’s Flyers-Capitals game.  I took notes during it in order to give everyone a glimpse of the experience from a different angle, the one that I see when I work behind the scenes.

4:41 – After taking the employee shuttle over from the NovaCare parking lot, I enter through a side door and walk through the bowels of the Wachovia Center. 

4:45 – I take the elevator up to the balcony and cross paths with former Flyer player/current broadcaster Keith Jones, who steps in as I step out.  I walk about fifteen feet to the ArenaVision control room, sign in, and grab a game script.  I pass Flyers play-by-play man Jim Jackson as I go to the office to collect my most recent paycheck.

4:58 – I finally finish wrestling with the extremely tangled cable that I will be using that evening.  I stretch it out in the nice long hallway behind the press boxes.  As people walk by me, they all will inevitably make comments about how much of a mess the cable is as I try to tame it.  I take a camera and head downstairs.

5:25 – I finish “faxing out” the camera, which is basically taking it to all the locations where I’ll be during the game and making sure the connections work properly.  I head over to the lower press dining area and am the first ArenaVision employee there because the rest are all still in a meeting that cable pullers usually skip to get a head start on faxing out.

5:30 – I sit down to eat in the lower press room and the food actually looks palatable for once.  At any rate, I’m just glad I eat for free and don’t have to pay $10 like the press has to.

5:43 – I see 610 WIP personalities Glen Macnow and Brian Startare at dinner, the first time I’ve ever seen either at a game.

6:01 – As I’m about to leave dinner, longtime Flyers public address announcer Lou Nolan comes over and talks to some of my coworkers at my table.  I have a word with him, although I don’t tell him that I want his job.

As I walk over to the Zamboni tunnel for the warm-ups and national anthem, I pass by a group of Flyers kicking a soccer ball around.  Teams love doing this for some reason.  Among the players that I notice on the way by are Ryan Parent, Riley Cote, Arron Asham, Scott Hartnell, Darroll Powe, and Kimmo Timonen.

When I reach the Zamboni tunnel, I notice the ice crew’s digital thermometer.  In case you were wondering, it was 59 degrees in the building with 24% humidity.

6:29 – The Capitals and Flyers hit the ice and warm-ups begin.  Our camera and the others shoot the Flyers as they go through their drills.  And I have to say, I think we do things the wrong way.

We should at least have a camera or two covering the road team as they warm up.  When I come to games as a fan, I’m interested in the opponent as well.  But if I ever made that suggestion, it would fall on deaf ears I’m sure.

6:38 – As I stand in the Zamboni tunnel with Finn, my cameraman, a puck squeezes between the protective netting and the glass and falls in front of me.  Someone picks it up and gives it to a small boy wearing a Mike Richards shirt.  I wish someone gave me a puck or a foul ball or something when I was a kid.

6:55 – We roll a pre-recorded segment featuring Joe Staszak’s “keys to the game”.  Joe is a nice guy, but this segment really bothers me.  He in no way offers keys to winning that night’s game, instead just spouting off statistics and talking about recent developments regarding the Flyers.  Awful.

7:06 – Finn walks out onto the ice and I feed him cable.  Lauren Hart, daughter of the late great Gene Hart, delivers her usual solid rendition of the national anthem.  The game begins but Finn and I miss the first few minutes as we scurry over to section 115/116 for the first period.

7:37 – A fast period ends with the Flyers down 1-0.  Power plays were the difference, with the Flyers looking bad and going 0 for 3 while the Capitals scored on their only chance.  The intermission begins with the tired promotion of shooting t-shirts into the stands.  The Flyers’ ice girls ride around in a $30,000 dune buggy that the powers that be decided to purchase rather than giving raises to its employees.

7:55 – The second period begins.  I just spent most of intermission listening to Finn tell stories about the things he’s seen while working over at PhanaVision for the Phillies.  All kinds of things happening in the stands have been caught on tape over there.  I can’t mention most of them here.

8:03 – I assume that someone near me is wearing a Sidney Crosby jersey for some reason because the Flyers faithful start a “Crosby sucks” chant even though he’s hundreds of miles away.  Or maybe they just hate Sidney Crosby that much.  They reprise the chant several more times during the period.

8:15 – Mike Knuble scores on a beautiful passing play to tie the game.  Finn rushes around to catch shots of celebrating fans in the stands.

8:20 – The third television timeout of the period, all of which have been on our camera as we effectively have blocked off the runway between sections 209 and 209A all period.  A fan tries to leave the section during the break but is told he can’t.  He is clearly irritated and grumbles that he came to watch the game and not the stuff we are putting on the screen.  We really do get in the way sometimes.

8:26 – A horrible turnover by Darroll Powe onto the stick of Alexander Semin, who finds Ovechkin wide open in front.  I could have buried that one.  2-1 Caps courtesy of the best player in the league.

8:40 – We get to section 219/219A for the third period.  If I were with the other camera, I would have the job of going to the Flyers’ tunnel and setting up for player interviews between periods.  But not tonight.

8:55 – Danny Briere makes too many moves at the offensive blue line and puts the Flyers offside.  It’s the most I’ve noticed him all night.

8:57 – Washington has a goal waived off because Biron was interfered with but they do not receive a penalty.  This is stupid.  It’s either a goal or a penalty.  You can’t disallow a goal and not call a penalty for the infraction.  Well, I guess you can because they did.

9:00 – It’s the Flyers turn to have a goal disallowed now, as Knuble gets an interference penalty.  It’s probably a legitimate call but it had nothing to do with the goal.  The crowd starts chanting at the official.  You know what chant I’m talking about.

9:09 – Jose Theodore stones Arron Asham in what will turn out to be the Flyers’ best chance to tie the game.

9:17 – Because of several minutes of uninterrupted play, we miss the last television timeout, meaning that we won’t be able to put Shawn the dancing fat guy on camera tonight.  If you’ve been to a Flyers game in the last three years, I’m sure you’ve seen him.  Fans seem to like him generally, but ArenaVision hates him since the Flyers have apparently ordered us to put him up every game.

9:20 – Game over.  Flyers lose 2-1.  Ovechkin the first star.  It’s unbelievable how he turns an average team into a very good one.  I take the elevator to the main concourse and then walk to the public address box between the penalty benches to break down some equipment with the other cable puller.

9:40 – After finishing my work downstairs, I return to the control room and sign out.  Another night in the books.  I pass by Capitals’ play-by-play man Joe Beninati, as well as writers Ed Moran, Sam Carchidi and Tim Panaccio. 

And even though the Flyers lost on this occasion, I always think to myself as I pass by the portrait of Gene Hart in the hallway, “Good night and good hockey”.