Embracing the challenge of remote broadcasts

As color analyst Bob Errey walked into AT&T SportsNet's studio in the North Shore last Tuesday ahead of their remote broadcast of Pittsburgh's exhibition contest against Philadelphia - which took place at Scotiabank Arena in the hub city of Toronto - his footwear looked a little different than it normally does on game days.

Errey, like many of us in this virtual age, thought they might be filmed sitting down for the broadcast. So he wore sandals, but brought his dress shoes in his backpack, just in case. And it was a good thing he did, as he and play-by-by announcer Steve Mears ended up being filmed standing up, six feet apart, for the intro.

"It was kind of funny," Errey said with a laugh. "It was all different, but I'm really glad we got the trial run. I think we feel good about what we're going to be able to do moving forward."

Mears agreed.

"I thought given the circumstances, it was fantastic," he said. "I really think we're extremely fortunate to have the resources that we do over there. It was just confirmed when we did that exhibition game."

Mears and Errey will be back tonight for Game 2 of Pittsburgh's Qualifying Round against the Montreal Canadiens, with the broadcast scheduled for 8 p.m. They also have Game 3 on Wednesday and Game 4 on Friday. They are joined in the studio by rinkside reporter Dan Potash, host Rob King and analyst Jay Caufield.

While Errey had just one prior experience with a remote broadcast - joining Rod Black on the call of a World Championship game from the TSN studio a few years back - Mears is an old pro.

He did play-by-play for three World Junior Championships during his time with NHL Network from their headquarters in Secaucus, New Jersey. Including the year that the Pittsburgh locals - John Gibson, Vince Trocheck, J.T. Miller and Riley Barber (now a member of the Penguins organization) - led Team USA to gold in 2013.

When he called those tournaments, Mears would get text messages from people who thought he was actually in Russia or Sweden for the games. After Tuesday's broadcast, he got similar text messages from people in the hockey world, including fellow broadcasters.

"Most of the feedback was that people didn't even realize we weren't there, so I got a lot of texts like hey, how's the bubble, how's Toronto?" Mears said with a laugh. "That's the best compliment that you can get."

Mears said that prior experience calling those high-profile games remotely definitely helped prepare him for this. He said the biggest key - and Errey agreed - is just to embrace the situation.

"You just make it work," Mears said. "You find a way. Use the resources that you have and embrace it. I think we did that and we're just going to continue to do so - even with some of those challenges - and enjoy it."

One of those challenges is not having daily interaction with the team. During practices and morning skates at home and on the road, Mears is always talking to players and coaches, asking questions and scribbling down notes that he'll later sprinkle throughout the broadcast.

"That's when you get the best information," Mears said. "When it's off the record and when you're immersed in the team environment, traveling together and going to practice and then going in the locker room."

But the Penguins and the NHL are doing the best they can to provide broadcasters with some of that access remotely. For example, after Mike Sullivan finishes his media availability before a game, he'll step aside for an off-the-record chat with the broadcasters. So the league arranged for Sullivan to do that virtually ahead of Game 2.

When it comes to the game itself, those challenges include more difficulty in identifying the players. Even on a crystal-clear monitor, they are at the mercy of the camera and who's in view at any particular point.

Mears usually has tunnel vision on the center-ice camera - which shows the world feed - to follow the play. For Errey, it's challenging because usually he's focused on what is unfolding away from the play. Take Scott Laughton's overtime goal last Tuesday, for example. On that play, Errey could see Laughton take off from his own end, and he knew that the Flyers may try a long stretch pass to him.

"If I was watching the game regularly, I would have saw exactly where he was and whether the pass could be made, all that stuff," Errey said. "Now I'm kind of guessing. It's a stretch pass, so you know the guy is going, but there's an element of guesswork. You just hope that your years of experience help you out in those situations."

It helps that they have the benefit of a beautiful setup in the AT&T SportsNet studio, which recently got an upgrade. The crew has been working hard for months preparing for this possibility, and built a setup for the on-air talent that is incredible from a technical aspect. In addition to that center-ice camera Mears is zeroed in on, they have multiple other monitors and multiple other feeds they can utilize in a floor-to-ceiling hub.

And from a production standpoint, Mears and Errey are incredibly grateful for the crew they have doing the work behind-the-scenes to make the broadcast successful: producer Lowell MacDonald, director Andy Kosco, associate producer Becky Hawranko-Wood and associate director Matt Aaron.

"I have to give credit to our whole crew," Mears said. "They're used to being in a TV truck and being on location, and now they're not. I just think they're the best in the business, and they work so hard to make it go as smoothly as it did."

While the TV crew is set up in the North Shore, the Penguins Radio Network crew of Mike Lange, Phil Bourque and Josh Getzoff is over in Greentree. They have a lot less room to work with in their studio, but are doing the best they can with the space they have.

Before, there was one monitor mounted on the wall that would show the TV broadcast. Now, they have added another bigger monitor that shows the world feed. Lange sits at a small table in front of those screens, while Bourque stands behind him to his right. Getzoff does the Penguins Live Pregame show and intermissions in a separate room.

"It's a challenge, let's put it that way," Lange said with a laugh. "And so you have live and learn, because you've got to work a couple of different monitors, including another broadcast to get the time. So just the little things that you're accustomed to picking up normally, you don't quite get.

"You just try and keep your eye on the puck as much as possible. And hopefully you can come up with the right guy who scored the goal (laughs). That's what we do."

Like Errey, Lange only had one prior experience with a remote broadcast - and it wasn't even a hockey game. It was a soccer game, back on Jan. 1, 1981. At the time, Lange had been doing TV work in the offseason for the Washington Diplomats, who were in the North American Soccer League and owned by Madison Square Garden.

He got a call asking if he would do a closed-circuit broadcast for a game between Argentina and West Germany off a monitor at MSG, and said he would. The Penguins played in Detroit on New Year's Eve, so Lange got up early the next day and flew to New York, where he called the game on a monitor in the booth upstairs at the Garden.

"Somehow, someway we got through it," he said. "The highlight of the whole day was leaving the building. When we got onto the corner of 33rd and Eighth Avenue, there must have been 3,000 Argentinians on the streets with flags. They had won that game against West Germany. And they were marching down the street. So that was the only game that I ever did off the monitor. It was unique, and certainly a lot of laughs and a lot of enjoyment to see all these crazy folks that had come in to watch the Argentinians play."

This has certainly been a much different experience, and Lange is incredibly grateful for Bourque, who has done a fantastic job of still providing plenty of color to the broadcasts. Which is necessary on the radio feed, as they need to paint more of a picture for the listeners who aren't able to watch.

"The one blessing that I have is I've got the man that eats more carrot cake than anybody, and that's Phil Bourque," Lange said. "He's got some great eyes, and he still picks up things. So that does help immensely."

He is also appreciative of the work that Getzoff is putting in, along with the efforts of executive producer Wayne "Gretzky" Anderson and engineer Lou Galzerano.

"We have a little family," Lange said. "They've folded together and kind of made it happen. We'll fight through it and everybody will do the best they can. And hopefully it will be a long run for everybody."