An awesome celebration

I was notified about 2 hours before last night's game that I'd be dropping the ceremonial first puck.  First time in seven and a half years I've had the ability to do so as we got local sports broadcaster Dan Hawkins to cover the pregame and opening five minutes of the broadcast, along with Arron handling our Twitter feed.

They also gave me a game-used jersey (it was Chad Hudson's in 2009-10) with my name put on the back, signed by the whole team on the front, and the staff and a bunch of fans on the back.  Plus I got a plaque thanking me for 393 games broadcast in the NAHL, the puck, and I had a "Player of the Game" photo put in our game programs.  Despite losing 2-1 and getting eliminated from the playoffs, it was a pretty awesome night.  Despite the Rivers Cuomo-like pissing off of some of our fans that I've done this year, Wichita Falls definitely has the best ones in the NAHL.

I'm glad I'll be able to be just on the 100% fan side of the team now and have a degree of anonymity, albeit a small degree and watching from afar, instead of having to occupy a position that's part fan, part PR, and part journalist all rolled into one where everyone knows who I am.  It's fun, it was my career choice, but it was also a stressful spot to have to be in, trying to balance those three.  Plus all the office duties that constantly were expanding just got to be enough.  When the position with Panini came open, I had to jump at the opportunity.

I'm sure I'll miss broadcasting eventually.  It can be fun, and you get to know some great people.  But I'm glad to be taking a break.  At worst, if I ever get the itch to get back into it, the Metroplex has NHL, CHL, NAHL, and WSHL hockey, plus the NAHL headquarters.  Though I'd never work for any other NAHL South team.  I'm sure I've made enough enemies in Frisco, Topeka, Odessa, Corpus Christi, and especially Amarillo that I would be persona non grata if any of them were to be hiring.

But for now, I'm excited to look ahead to next week, moving to Arlington, and starting with Panini.