An Old Friend Who Made It

By Mike Morreale

Hi everyone. I was honored when the great Jack Lally approached me prior to a recent New Jersey Devils home game and asked if I’d be willing to offer a story for his website endeavor. How can I refuse Jack Lally? Not only does he throw popcorn at me during games, but he’s one of the more quick-witted individuals I know, always willing to give you the gears. If I don’t write something, I’m going to get more than popcorn thrown in my direction!

A real quick introduction. I’ve always been a sports fan and loved the sport of hockey for as long as I can remember. In fact, I used to keep a transistor radio underneath my pillow and listened to games on WFAN New York or WIP in Philadelphia late at night when my mom and dad told me to get to bed on a school night. I would recite play by play from some of my favorite broadcasters on a tape recorder and do it over and over, until I finally got it right. When I reached high school, I began to have a passion for writing stories. I majored in Journalism at Rider College, now Rider University, in Lawrenceville, N.J., and graduated with my degree in Journalism in spring, 1990.

I worked at The Star-Ledger as a sportswriter for 17 years before getting the position at NHL.com in the winter of 2008. The experience at The Ledger was great and culminated with my being inducted into the New Jersey High School Ice Hockey Hall of Fame in the spring of 2014.

It was such an honor.

My high school hockey memories are still so vivid, clear and inspiring, to be honest. I met so many great people, including players, coaches and, yes, those on-ice officials. Whether it was freezing your ass off at Winding River in Toms River, being half-frozen at the friendly confines of Warinanco Rink in Roselle or watching big-time rivalries at the Wall Ice Arena or South Mountain Arena, I always felt like the luckiest writer in Jersey.

The chats with the officials usually took place prior to and between periods of games. It was always great to share a recent story about a coach, a player or call on the ice. It’s just really cool to be in the position I’m in now, having so many of the people I grew up with covering high school hockey there to watch and work a hockey game with me in Newark. I mean, who would have thought it possible? But here we are, and it’s been a blast, and I always enjoy our conversations, whether it’s about hockey, life or grandchildren … LOL.

I enjoyed reporting on high school hockey. It helped shape the way I interact with young players, and it helped create the style in which I write, and I’m so grateful for that. At about the time I applied for the position as staff writer at NHL.com, the internet was taking over. Print media was becoming obsolete and all the advertising revenue was going into online websites. That’s the reason I made the move to NHL.com.

In addition to covering the New Jersey Devils on a game-to-game basis and seeing those on-ice officials now off-ice and right above me on press row, I’ve worked closely over the past 17 seasons as the League’s lead writer for the NHL Draft. It’s a lot of fun because it kind of brings me back to my roots as a high school reporter with The Star-Ledger and covering all those high school and collegiate hockey players looking to make their mark in the sport they love.

I enjoy working with the people at the NHL and dealing with the athletes and executives on a daily basis. Everyone has always been honest, respectful and informative.

To close, I want to share one of my favorite stories as a writer for NHL.com.

Each summer, every player and coach on the team winning the Stanley Cup has an opportunity to spend a full day with the Holy Grail. The summer after the Chicago Blackhawks won the 2010 Stanley Cup, I had the chance to document the day of defenseman Duncan Keith, who was recently inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame. I was looking forward to it because Keith would spend the day in his hometown of Penticton, British Columbia. It’s just beautiful there.

When Keith arrived at the airport to accept the Cup from Cup Keeper Mike Bolt of the Hockey Hall of Fame, reporters and videographers were invited to join him and his family on a shuttle to a few destinations he had planned for that day (July 17, 2010).

When I walked onto the shuttle, Keith saw me and said, “Hey Mike, glad you can make it. Do you need anything?”

I had met Keith just twice prior to this big event — and it was as a reporter. The first time I spoke to him was during the 2008 NHL All Star Game when he was invited to play despite being a rookie.

I took my seat in the back of shuttle and thought long and hard on how Keith could have remembered my name without hesitation. It was baffling. I documented, wrote stories and blogs about Keith’s big day over the next six-plus hours and posted to NHL.com.

At the end of the day, Keith invited friends and family back to his house — a beautiful place that also had a beach overlooking a picturesque lake. He was doing some follow-up interviews for television and then, before heading back into the house, saw me and stopped.

I thought to myself, ‘OK, here it comes. Maybe he’s going to tell me how he knows me.’

Sure enough, he said: “You know what Mike. I never thanked you.

“Two years ago, when I earned a spot in the All-Star Game, reporters were coming over and asking me if I felt I deserved to be there since I was only a rookie. If I told them yes, I’d be cocky. If I told them no, then that might have meant I didn’t feel I did belong there. But when you came over, you just started talking about my season and how great it must feel to be rewarded in this way. And, really, I was relieved. So I just wanted to say Thank You.”

Those are the stories that keep me going in this ever-changing business.

I want to thank all of you for being a part of it.