Let’s Go to Videotape: How KHN Won Emmy 

Before every Kraken Hockey Network game broadcast, Ryan Schaber and Patrick Brown devise a plan for what their crew will deliver to fans. They carry notes and thoughts and questions and debates into production meetings, hand out assignments, instruct who could be key players that night and listen to their on-air experts. They are supremely organized and ready to go.

The crew’s collective efforts won the Northwest regional Emmy in the game broadcast category for 2024 while measured against formidable competitors televising Mariners, Seahawks, Sounders, Portland Trailblazers and Pac-12 football games. Lest anyone might forget, last season was the inaugural year for KHN with Schaber, Brown and staff facing just a short summer’s runway to go live on local station KONG and Amazon Prime, plus 15 games on KING-5. The second season of KHN telecasts begins with all six Kraken preseason games, starting Sunday at 5 p.m. against Vancouver, before the Emmy-winning network airs the Oct. 9 regular season opener at home against Anaheim -- the first of 73 such locally televised games, with the remaining nine matchups committed to national broadcasts.

“We always go into each game with the plan,” said Schaber, KHN producer and Kraken vice president of broadcast. “We always talk about what to expect. Every night presents something new, especially at home. There's a lot of theme nights, celebrities on the guest list. There's always something happening in the arena. And obviously the game dictates the stories we tell, the players on the ice, who's there, who's not there, our opponent, who's hot, who’s not, who's starting in goal? There are always a ton of storylines.”

But ...

Schaber pauses. One second, three seconds, five seconds. The realist in the KHN executive is contemplating the wisdom once poignantly, if not surprisingly, proffered by former heavyweight boxing titleholder Mike Tyson when asked about an upstart opponent claiming a perfect plan to outfox the champ.

“Mike Tyson said, ‘Everybody has plans until they get punched in the face, ’” said Schaber, bemused. “It feels a little bit like that, actually, once the game starts.”

Brown, KHN director of Kraken games, sits across the table. He is smiling at the Tyson reference.

Then Schaber delivers his own counterpunch: “But because you're prepared for all sorts of things that might happen, it also makes it a little easier to react to things not in the plan because you’re at least prepared for something. It makes you feel a little bit more in control of the situation. We know we have to pivot and adjust as the game goes.”

Brown, who is calling multiple camera shot sequences every shift at a dizzying rate, adds:“For me, I’m listening into a lot of different conversations during our planning meetings and in-game, to hear what sorts of things are being talked about.Then I try to imagine how I might use pictures to tell those stories, weaving them in at the right time. Because, say, a random cutaway to a celebrity after a whistle is blown, doesn't always make sense. You might want to explain why there was a whistle there.”

Award-Winning and Fan-Focused

Before KHN debuted last fall, Brown said, “We’re not about bragging we are the biggest and best” but instead that, “The point is to have more tools to tell the stories with.” Modesty noted, but thanks to a fans-first budget to build out Kraken game coverage and the pre-game, intermissions and post-game shows, the KHN crew is supremely equipped. There are innovative cameras and camera placements that make visiting producers jealous. Next-gen technology, from graphics to lightning-fast replay recall to real-time game data and lots more, optimally bolsters PNW broadcasts aired in Washington, Alaska, Oregon, Idaho and Montana.

While Brown and Schaber are not about boasting, the Emmy hardware makes the case for them. Same for KHN’s broadcast earning the No. 2 spot in The Athletic’s annual NHL fan survey of favorite local broadcasts, outpacing 30 teams and decades of those franchises producing and directing NHL games. The Kraken broadcast was ranked No. 1 in The Athletic fan survey in 2023 and No. 2 in 2024.

How the Emmy Judging Unfolds

For the Emmy nomination, Schaber and Brown selected a 5-1 home win over Boston last Dec. 14 as the entry. The KHN tape was evaluated by two peers in each of a half-dozen other regions of the country. The judging is based on each Emmy contender submitting a maximum 30-minute video for a selected game telecast (the Kraken entry accompanies this article). Like all competitors, Schaber and Brown were allowed to make only eight edits in the half-hour video, including moving from one portion of the broadcast to another. The rules effectively translate to showing lengthy clips of game action, pre-game setup and intermission analysis untouched from the original programming.

“We have to basically send an unedited version,” said Brown. “We cannot cut out things that happen within the segments we pick. What we aimed to do is find the best half-hour of a two-and-a half hour broadcast. We can’t chop it up 30 different ways ... We have to pick large sections to show we know what we're doing and how we are serving fans. It has to be one dedicated game. It can’t be a highlight reel from the entire season.”

Such parameters are even more foreboding because, as Brown notes, “It’s live TV, there’s always going to be something that goes wrong.” In his first training camp media scrum Thursday, new Kraken head coach Lane Lambert offered a relatable point about the game on the ice itself: “Mistakes will be made, that’s hockey, but certainly we will work hard as we can to be a team that is fast and aggressive.”

“I think our entry was pretty clean,” said Brown. “Part of the deal is you kind of show them what we do and how you work around some challenges. Plus, the Boston home game had a lot of stuff going on.”

‘Lot to Show How We Handled the Unplanned’

On an early September afternoon, Brown and Schaber marveled at the series of events that unfolded in the Boston game while watching the 30-minute video together.

“It starts with our open before puck drop,” said Schaber. “We do an on-camera segment of why fans at home should watch tonight. It really showcases our graphics package, our animation look, our music selection and then our world-class talent [John Forslund, Eddie Olczyk, JT Brown and Piper Shaw]. This category of Emmys isn't necessarily judged on the talent. There is a separate category for that, but they are part of the big puzzle, right?

“Then, in this game, there were several great goals. There was a reviewed goal, there was a challenge, there was a couple of penalties plus a penalty shot [just 32 total in the NHL last season]. There was a lot to show how we handle the unplanned. That's why we chose this game.”

Another component of the Dec. 14 game derived from the passing of team owner and founder David Bonderman just three days earlier. Schaber, Brown, the talent and the entire crew was freshly mourning the so-admired groundbreaker, along with Kraken players wearing a memorial “Bondo” jersey patch. But as Schaber recalled, “Even with heavy hearts, we knew he would want us to do a great show.”

The winning video is clearly a team effort throughout the 30 minutes. The opening segment has drone shots showing off the Climate Pledge Arena plazas and adjacent Seattle Center, which was festooned for the winter holidays. One camera operator enterprised a breathtaking aerial shot from the Space Needle observation deck.

On the game’s first goal, one of KHN’s five slow-motion cameras allowed fans to see precisely how Matty Beniers directed a shot at former Kraken forward Oliver Bjorkstrand’s stick blade rather than a random shot on goal. Beniers’ move led to enough redirection to beat the Boston goaltender. That discernment is not visible to the natural eye at full speed.

Later in the first period, a wireless camera placed in the seats behind the Boston net led to both a superior highlight and a dash of humor. The payoff was a different angle to see a deft backhand shot and score by Jaden Schwartz along the goal line. The replay literally provided a fan’s view of the goal.

While the replay rolled, analyst Eddie Olczyk raved about Shane Wright keeping the play alive. Olczyk then ad-libbed a final comment when the fan-view angle appeared on screen: “... and that gentleman has a nice head of hair there.” It was the best of both worlds: Seeing the game from an arena seat and listening to Forslund, Olczyk and Brown calling the action.

Later in the game, Vince Dunn scored a back-breaking goal to dampen Boston's hopes. He batted the puck into the net, starting his aerial stickhandling above the shoulder (not allowed) but didn’t touch the puck with his stick until it was below his shoulders (allowed). Schaber oversees replays and rolled out every camera angle possible, including what the “situation room” in Toronto was reviewing. “We get the Toronto feed when there is a review,” said Schaber. Finally, another innovative camera in an ice-level position (there are two on each end for home games) showed beyond a doubt Dunn scored an allowable goal.

All of it, plus an insightful segment about the Beniers-Bjorkstrand goal from the intermission trio of Ian Furness, Alison Lukan and Brett Festerling, won the favor of Emmy judges. For the season ahead, Schaber said new ice-level cameras will be even sharper for game action and will better withstand the inevitable snow showers plus the puck and body slams to bring fans “a level of intimacy” transporting at-home fans into the arena. The intermission show set will be closer to the arena’s bowl for similar reasons, while the Forslund-Olczyk-Brown combinations in the home arena will now have an in-booth camera pointed at the commentators for another way fans can experience their work and interactions.

Schaber calls the booth camera a “a working shot” for fans to better engage with future Hockey Hall of Famer Forslund and his top-shelf analysts. Let’s agree lots of things are working for the better on KHN broadcasts.