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Hockey, Swim Finals Next on MHSAA TV

March 6, 2018

By John Johnson
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

Finals on frozen pond and in swimming pools highlight this week’s schedule on MHSAA.tv, with live video streams of the MHSAA Ice Hockey and Lower Peninsula Boys Swimming & Diving Championships.

The streaming this week begins at 5 p.m. Thursday (March 8) with the first of two Division 2 Semifinal games in the Ice Hockey Tournament. Division 3 and 1 Semifinals follow Friday (March 9), with the Finals on Saturday (March 10).

Here’s the complete Ice Hockey coverage schedule:

Thursday – Division 2 Semifinals

Friday – Division 3 Semifinals

Friday – Division 1 Semifinals

Lower Peninsula Boys Swimming and Diving coverage begins at noon Saturday at three locations, with the consolation and championship heats in each swimming event, plus the final round of the diving. Here are direct links to each Division of activity:

The continued Ice Hockey and Swimming coverage is part of six straight weekends of live MHSAA Championship coverage on MHSAA.tv, and online viewers can catch every weekend of action for one low cost of $9.95. Over the next two weeks of live Winter championship coverage, the following events will be featured: 

  • Girls Basketball Quarterfinals – March 13 – ALL 16 GAMES
  • Girls Basketball Semifinals – March 15-16
  • Boys Basketball Quarterfinals – March 20 – ALL 16 GAMES
  • Boys Basketball Semifinals – March 22-23 

All events become available for free, on-demand viewing approximately 72 hours following their completion.

The MHSAA Championship Radio Network begins three straight weekends of Winter tournament coverage this weekend at the Ice Hockey Semifinals and Finals. The audio stream is available at MHSAANetwork.com. Over the following two weekends, the MHSAA Championship Radio Network also will carry the Semifinals and Finals of the Girls and Boys Basketball Tournaments for distribution on an over-the-air network of radio stations, and on the internet.

In addition to all of the MHSAA Network coverage of tournament action, participants in the MHSAA’s School Broadcast Program will bring over a dozen playoff contests into homes over the coming week.

Here’s this week’s MHSAA.tv schedule of live video streams being produced by SBP members (All times Eastern Standard):

Monday, March 5

Wednesday, March 7

Friday, March 9

Monday, March 12

  • Boys Basketball Regional at Fowlerville – TBA
  • Boys Basketball Regional at Marquette – TBA
  • Boys Basketball Regional at Negaunee – TBA

Tuesday, March 13

  • Girls Basketball Quarterfinals – Sites & Times TBA

Be sure to check “Upcoming Events” on the MHSAA.tv home page daily for last-minute additions.

In its ninth year, the School Broadcast Program gives members an opportunity to showcase excellence in their schools by creating video programming of athletic and non-athletic events, with students gaining skills in announcing, camera operation, directing/producing and graphics. Pixellot – The NFHS Network’s automated streaming solution – is used by schools wishing to live stream games, but lacking the ability to staff the events. The program also gives schools the opportunity to raise money through advertising and viewing subscriptions. 

A complete list of participating schools can be found on the School Broadcast Program page of the MHSAA website.

Highlights of games produced in the past week by MHSAA School Broadcast Program members feature District Girls Basketball games Fowlerville v. Williamston and Manchester v. Pittsford, and a Regional Ice Hockey game Detroit U-D Jesuit v. Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook Kingswood.

Highlights can be found each week on the MHSAA.tv website, the home page of the MHSAA Website, and the MHSAASports Channel on YouTube.

 

Montrose SBP

Ford Field Trip Gives Students Taste of Football Finals Broadcasting

By Jon Ross
MHSAA Director of Broadcast Properties

December 7, 2021

DETROIT – An hour before kickoff of the first game of 11-Player Football Finals weekend – the Division 8 championship decider between Hudson and Beal City – Bally Sports Detroit announcers Evan Stockton and Rob Rubick were busy preparing to call the action from the television booth on the third level of Ford Field.

Four levels above them, in the press box, a group of prospective broadcasters were touring the facilities. The high school students had spent the Fall sports season streaming games to the NFHS Network and now were learning about a career in broadcasting from Eric Vandefifer, a Montrose High grad currently serving as the radio voice of Saginaw Valley State University basketball and as a contributor to a variety of high school broadcast channels including the MHSAA Network.

Seven years ago, Vandefifer was in a similar situation. He was part of a field trip to Ford Field for the Finals that helped him realize sports broadcasting was a career he wanted to pursue. Those field trips were headed by Tom Skinner and Thom Lengyel, who became mentors to Vandefifer. As a high school junior in 2017, Vandefifer was named Best Student Broadcaster nationally by the NFHS Network.

Mount Pleasant SBP“With Tom Skinner now deceased and Thom Lengyel retired from the broadcast business, I just felt like I had to continue this and their legacy,” Vandefifer said. “It was important to me to keep it going because when I was in school, it was something I looked forward to.”

Nearly 50 students from Lowell, Montrose, Lake Orion, Mount Pleasant and Ann Arbor Greenhills high schools made the Nov. 26-27 trip to Ford Field. They were able to film highlights, interview players, practice announcing the games, meet other members of the press and more. For Vandefifer, giving back to students who are in the position he once was is very rewarding.

“We had the ability to feel like real media members for a day. I wanted to be able to give other students that same opportunity,” Vandefifer said. “Seeing kids who have a love for sportscasting and that drive to get better gives me real hope for the next generation in this business.”  

And after the field trips were done each day, Vandefifer put his headphones on, got behind the microphone and called the two afternoon games for the MHSAA Championship Network.

PHOTOS (Top) Eighth grader Sam Belill, left, and freshman Owen Leitelt from Montrose practice calling a game from the Ford Field press box. (Middle) Mount Pleasant make a stop at the press conference room. (Photos provided by the Montrose and Mount Pleasant School Broadcast Programs.)