Hersch ahead of each game spends time at the morning skate and then catches up with available playersgetty images
NHL Network reporter JAMIE HERSCH has a front row seat for what may be the most unprecedented Stanley Cup Final in history, and this weekend she'll call DC home as the Capitals get set to host the Golden Knights in Game 3 on Saturday night. Hersch's coverage throughout the series will primarily focus on the expansion Golden Knights, and she got a peek into their unique home atmosphere in Games 1 and 2 earlier this week. "We had a few players skate up to me for a couple quick questions right before the start of the games, and honestly it was so loud we couldn't really hear each other. But we do our best," she said. Hersch took THE DAILY through her transition from T-Mobile to Capital One Arena, living down picking against the Golden Knights in the 1st round and how she relates to title-starved DC fans. As for the scene in Vegas this past week, Hersch made it clear: "We didn't have time for pool parties."
GAMEDAY ROUTINE: My typical day around the Final starts long before the game itself. I'll go to the morning skate, and in Vegas that’s been awesome. It was consistently at capacity, even on a workday to see players who probably won’t even get playing time. A lot of kids, too. In Vegas that’s about 9:00am, on the east coast it’s more around 11:00. I’ll watch practice, meet with the team’s PR to set up a one-on-one interview, go into the locker room, catch up with available players, get the storylines and get an idea of what topics we can cover on our pregame show. From there I’ll have a conference call with our producers to figure out what the analysts want to talk about on set versus what I’ll talk about on my first live hit. Then we’ll hopefully do a couple more live hits right before the game -- for Game 2 I was able to talk to Knights (President of Hockey Operations & GM) GEORGE MCPHEE. Then about a half-hour before the game I’ll be on the bench, which is my favorite part of the day. Then I don’t really have any in-game responsibilities, I’m able to just take it all in. I typically sit with our analyst E.J. HRADEK. We have a Stanley Cup tradition to find a spot in the pressbox just to bounce ideas off each other.
TAKES A VILLAGE: We’ll have shows on “NHL Live” and “NHL Tonight” on Friday featuring coverage from that day’s practice with no game that day. I work late nights in the regular season so I don’t get to see a lot of my colleagues outside the office. On a trip like this for the Stanley Cup, and like Wednesday night in Vegas, it’s always tempting to go out and do something with any combination of our analysts, PR folks, producers, social team. It becomes kind of like a family at this time of year. We’ll go out to dinner, maybe go out for a little bit afterwards. That said, I’ve learned over the years you have to pace yourself, you don’t want to burn the candles at both ends. I’m also really lucky to have my husband MATT come join me in DC this weekend and we'll spend whatever other free time I do have together. Hopefully we’ll find a nice place to get dinner. My dad is also coming down for Game 5 on Monday -- he wanted to get in on the action, too.
CAN DC LIVE UP TO VEGAS' FLAIR? It might be just as crazy and maybe even more so throughout the entire city. In Vegas it’s still easy to get lost on the Strip. It’s still very casino-heavy during the Final. But the DC fanbase is starved for a title. You think about the Nationals not having won a postseason series, then the Wizards and Redskins fanbases. I’m from Minnesota and I know what it means to be part of a tortured fanbase. But now they have this excitement to turn out for and I can’t wait to see what their energy is like.
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