Sound Tigers Staff Go From Office To Off-Ice

On a game day at Webster Bank Arena, you will find Tarah Kelly sitting in the penalty box, laptop propped up, cell phone in hand, making calls and answering emails.
It is a makeshift office for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers Group Sales Representative, but she is not serving a penalty. Rather, the sin bin is a sanctuary, keeping Kelly, who gets a game day COVID-19 test, isolated until puck drop, where she assumes her alter ego as an AHL official, specifically as the timekeeper for Sound Tigers.

Kelly will operate the clock, starting with the drop of the puck and stopping for every goal, penalty, offside and icing. The shots on goal that populate on the scoreboard - that's her too, communicating with other officials in the press box.
It is a recent development and major contrast from her normal job, but the 2021 AHL season is anything but normal. She is not alone either, as the Sound Tigers office staff have taken on new roles to stage games, everything from official scorekeeping, to DJing, to the public address announcer.
You may have seen an other duties as assigned clause in a work contract before, but you have probably never seen anything like this.
"We're all employed at a hockey team, so there comes a time where we all need to rally around what our organization is," said Carly Barrett, Community Relations Manager-turned Official Scorer. "We have to step up and take care of what needs to be done to allow for a hockey team to play hockey."

ASSEMBLING THE OFF-ICE ROSTER:

There was a point a few months back where the possibility of even having an AHL season was questionable. The COVID-19 pandemic caused the 2019-20 season to be paused and ultimately cancelled and with the pandemic still raging close to a year later. Starting up again was going to take a lot of problem solving.
Like the NHL, the AHL and its teams focused on division-only schedules to minimize travel and the Sound Tigers eventually settled on a 24-game sprint. That meant 12 home games for Bridgeport, six against the Hartford Wolf Pack and Providence Bruins, the two other teams in New England.
Fans would not be permitted to attend games, but there was still plenty to do to stage a professional contest for the second-highest league in North America. From a league perspective, there needed to be a timekeeper, official scorer, off-ice officials and penalty box attendants. From a game ops perspective, a PA announcer, a DJ and photographers would all be needed.
Preventing the spread of the virus was the organization's top priority, so keeping as few outsiders from entering the building meant leaning on the office staff and training them from scratch.
The Sound Tigers leadership committee sat down and looked at staff backgrounds to determine the best fit, putting those with deeper hockey backgrounds into officials' positions. That's how Kelly, whose father Paul was drafted by the LA Kings in 1986 and coached into the mid-2000s, was tapped as timekeeper. Barrett was a student manager tracking stats for the hockey teams at Quinnipiac University, so her experience led her to be the official scorer. Jon Forsberg, VP of Ticket Sales and Service, had previously done PA work at Springfield College, so he raised his voice when the position came up.
"It was taking a good look at our whole staff and align their interests and what we thought they would be able to excel at when it came to these positions," said Tim Farrell, VP of Marketing for the Sound Tigers. "We started putting the puzzle pieces together."
The new crew was able to get some practice in before Bridgeport's first home game on Feb. 13, holding two mock games on Feb. 9 and 11th to get familiarized with AHL software and general process. Under the direction of Bridgeport's Play-by-Play Broadcaster and PR Director Alan Fuehring, the new off-ice officials assumed their positions and worked a pair of run-throughs by playing old Islanders games on the jumbotron.
"It is a very difficult position to just step into and kind of work, let alone work full time," Farrell said of the off-ice officials. "To go from maybe a couple of weeks - at most - of training to go into a full professional AHL game is a whole other animal. That is probably to me is the most surprising and impressive feat our staff has been able to put together is stepping in and doing that."
It certainly did not come natural at first, but the Sound Tigers staff has been adapting, gaining valuable experience and enjoying the process.
"The first game was getting some of the jitters out and getting ready to go," Barrett said. "But now everyone has fun with it and is excited for game days cause it's that change of pace and everyone knows their role and what they have to do."

A WHOLE NEW GAME… OPS:

Forsberg was excited to return to some of his PA roots, harkening back to his time calling basketball, baseball, soccer and volleyball at Springfield College. He has got the natural gift of a deep voice, so it makes sense that he would be on the mic, but the experience of doing public address in an empty building is still a strange sensation.
"Early on it's been a lot of fun, it's certainly interesting to getting back into it again," Forsberg said. "The one hard part about the job is that with that type of role and position usually, you want to feed off of the fans and the live crowd… This year without fans in the building it becomes a bit more difficult, or some sort of an interesting situation, because when you welcome the team onto the ice, or you announce a goal, you're looking for some sort of response from the fans that isn't there. It makes the job a little more difficult, but we've had a lot of fun with it."
His favorite moment so far this season was calling Cole Bardreau's go-ahead goal in Bridgeport's first win of the season, a 5-3 victory over Hartford on Feb. 17. In addition to bellowing Bardreau through the arena, Forsberg is happy to be contributing to the cause, especially at a time where his regular job has been temporarily put on ice.
"This past year has been anything but normal, we're up for any challenge if it's going to help us as a team reach our goal," Forsberg said. "Everyone here, including myself, is willing to pitch in even if it means coming out of our comfort zone and doing some uncharacteristic jobs."
Having a PA announcer on staff was a spot of luck, but that wasn't the case for every position. Bridgeport didn't have any DJs working in the office, and with the goal to keep a vibe in the building, leadership sought a high-energy, upbeat employee to get on the ones and twos. They tapped Season Ticket Retention Specialist Erin Constantino.
Constantino is playing the music in warmups, during stoppages, intermissions and is sounding the goal horn and goal song after the team scores. As a recent college graduate, her music knowledge is probably more on par with that of the Sound Tigers players - and all things being equal, knowing what is popular is a young person's game.
It is not quite carte blanche, as there are 400 songs pre-loaded in the system, so you're probably not going to hear anything you wouldn't find in your average karaoke bar anytime soon.
"It's been a completely eye-opening experience," Constantino said. "Taking for granted how much the production team behind the scenes is putting into [games], the timing, the videos and everything that goes into it. It's to a tee how they set it up for a game."

FROM OFFICE TO OFF-ICE:

Barrett has a similar appreciation and perhaps the most pressure of anyone in the building as the official scorer. It is a position akin to air traffic controller, as she is constantly on the headset with the timekeeper, real-time scorer and PA announcer, recording and double-checking all of the plays that unfold on the ice.
"I'm the one where the information flows through," Barrett said. "I'm the person in the middle."
Barrett will relay shots to Kelly, who will mark them up on the scoreboard. In turn Kelly will confirm goals with the referee and relay up to Barrett to make sure they have the proper stats logged. Barrett is also communicating with Forsberg on announcing goals and penalties and Brianne Tompkins, the real-time scorer, who inputs all of the information into the official AHL system. Barrett, essentially, is the straw that stirs the drink, though she is more apt to call it facilitating. She said it has been a fun change of pace and there's a feeling of being part of the game, especially focusing on the granular details.
"So much appreciation for [off-ice officials]," Barrett said. "It's this weird dynamic… you're so honed in on your one role, you don't see what else is going on. There's a newfound respect I have for these roles where you have to pay such close attention."
Same with Kelly, who has to be dialed in the entire time. Sitting at ice level gives her a unique vantage point, but a front-row seat comes with its own challenges.
"If you miss two seconds it needs to be put back up there," Kelly said. "One thing I didn't think was going to be much of a challenge, but turned out to be a challenge, is that the referees will pretend to drop the puck before they actually drop the puck. I have to be on top of that every single time, so I can't start the clock until the puck hits the ice. Some of the linesmen like to pretend to put it down and get the players to go for it."
Aside from a dad who played pro, Kelly's also got a background in hockey. She played growing up and her family runs the Wonderland of Ice rink in Bridgeport, where the Sound Tigers sometimes practice, so she has even operated the clock for youth organizations. It makes her a good fit for communicating with officials, recognizing penalty signals and being assertive and confident if any players, coaches or refs get a little heated.
"If someone came over and yelled at me, I'm not going to be the one who is freaked out or anything like that," Kelly said. "I think it's pretty cool to say that a bunch of us girls, Carly, Bri and I, are technically the highest up of the off-ice officials we have right now and to be able to do this for a AHL organization right under the Islanders is definitely a cool thing. The pressure is on sometimes, but I know we can get it done when we all work together so it's pretty cool."
Farrell said the average fan would likely not be able to tell the difference between the regular game day crew and the new ones who have taken over in this extraordinary season - perhaps the biggest compliment he can give. Even the VP, who admittedly had some hesitation at the onset, has been blown away at how the staff as come together.
"It's been an enjoyable process so far," Farrell said. "As a fan, if you were in the building, you wouldn't be able to tell the slightest difference from a game presentation standpoint, to the way the AHL broadcast has been put out, to the stat keeping and the actual officials. It's been a thrill to see everyone step up to the challenge."