In late March we posted a Q&A with current Coyotes Senior Director of Media Relations Rich Nairn.  Recently, while in the D.C. area, I was able to catch up with the man who in the position prior to him, current Capitals Director of Media Relations, Sergey Kocharov. 

Carl - Sergey, great talking to you today. Can you give us a little background on how you actually got into hockey and then how you wound up working for the Coyotes?                                                                                   

Sergey -  Well, actually I wasn't much of a hockey fan when I was a kid, played tennis for the most part and competed in junior tournaments.   I started following the Coyotes when they moved from Winnipeg to Phoenix and I've followed them closely ever since.  In 2001, while in school I got an internship with the Coyotes and remained with the team in some capacity. I wrote feature articles for game publications and covered all home games for the website for some time and stayed in close contact with the PR Department, Rich Nairn and Rick Braunstein.   In 2006, a position opened up and they offered me the job as Manger of Media Relations. I was flattered and quickly accepted the job.  As a kid, when you're watching a team and following them on a daily basis and then getting a chance to work for them was definitely a dream come true.

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This past week Rich Nairn, Senior Director of Media Relations for the Phoenix Coyotes, was kind enough to answer a number of questions for us via email.  Rich has a long history with the franchise having started working with the franchise as when it was still in Winnipeg back in 1993.  He moved with the team to the Valley and worked for the club until 2007.  Rich returned to the club this past September. 

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On Thursday night, prior to the Phoenix Coyotes game against the Toronto Maples Leafs, I was able to sit down and talk with Jim Brewer, the team's Vice President of Marketing & Communications.  Jim started working for the Coyotes this past August.  While he is new to the franchise, he is not new to the Valley. He grew up in Arizona, attended Arizona State University, and spent fifteen years working for the Phoenix Suns. 

In the interview, Jim speaks about his views on a number of topics.  I ask him for his views about the Phoenix sports marketplace, how the economic recession has affected the team, drawing fans from the East Valley, the goal song issue, and the use of social media.  In addition, Jim gives Five For Howling an exclusive scoop on an upcoming promotion for the Coyotes game on April 1st.

Click on the link below to listen to the interview.

Jim Brewer on 1.13.2011

For more about Jim's background, check out his bio on the Coyotes website  You can also follow Jim on Twitter.

With the Phoenix Coyotes playing host to the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday night, we thought it would be a good idea to get a preview of the team.  We rarely see the Leafs in these parts, so we contacted James Mirtle, who covers the Toronto Maple Leafs for The Globe & Mail, to get the scoop on the team.  James was kind enough to respond to our questions via e-mail.

What do you attribute the current success the Maple Leafs are having to?  Is it just the addition of goalie James Reimer?

That's certainly part of it, as Toronto's goaltending has been a bit underwhelming on the whole this season. Reimer's played well in the minors and was excellent in training camp, but given his age and the fact this is a bit of a surprise, I expect he'll have a hard time keeping this up. It certainly makes (Brian) Burke's decision on what to do in goal more interesting.

One of the big reasons they've gone 5-1-0 in 2011, however, is the fact they're finding the back of the net with regularity, something that really hasn't happened very much this season. Toronto had been one of the lowest scoring teams in the league all season before this recent run.

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Yesterday, in Part I of the interview, Todd spoke about his early experiences with the sport of hockey and covering the sport as a journalist.  Today, in Part II (after the jump), Todd speaks about future Snapshots episodes on Fox Sports Arizona and on the Coyotes experience playing in Europe at the beginning of the season.  

Todd has been covering sports in the Valley since 1988.  He has been affiliated with Coyotes broadcasts from their arrival in town back in 1996.  In addition, he has at one time or another worked on the broadcasts of all four major pro sports teams in town.  Last month Todd received an Emmy award for Best Sports Anchor from the Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.  You can follow Todd on Twitter and check out his FileSocial site where he uploads MP3 audio clips of interviews.

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Recently, I was able to interview Coyotes Radio & TV broadcaster Todd Walsh.  Todd was gracious enough to spend over a half hour answering my questions. The interview has been broken into two parts.  In Part I of the interview (after the jump), Todd talks about his early experiences with the sport of hockey and covering the sport as a journalist.  In Part II,  Todd speaks about future Snapshots episodes on Fox Sports Arizona and on the Coyotes experience playing in Europe at the beginning of the season.  

Todd has been covering sports in the Valley since 1988.  He has been affiliated with Coyotes broadcasts since the team's arrival in town back in 1996.  In addition, he has at one time or another worked on the broadcasts of all four major pro sports teams in the Valley.  Last month Todd received an Emmy award for Best Sports Anchor from the Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.  You can follow Todd on Twitter and check out his FileSocial site where he uploads MP3 audio clips of interviews.

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