Meet the Hounds: Holy Goalie

I’ve always wanted to be a hockey broadcaster, doing the play by play, and finally the dream came true as I have a part time job doing just that, as well as a weekly show for the league.

I felt very proud when I was in hockey rinks in Philadelphia, Long Island, Hartford, and Orlando, when as soon as I said something, people turned around and said, “I recognize that voice, you’re that guy from the hockey podcast.” That was pretty cool.

Podcasting is not all that removed from calling a live game for hundreds or thousands of people, and now along with the Ratcast weekly hockey show, I am part of the Gamehounds video game and news show.

This year I will be reporting and writing articles for the AIHL hockey league that I broadcast for, and how ironic that I also will now be writing for the Gamehounds on their new website too.

I am the type of person who needs alot of stimulation. I bring multitasking to a whole new level. In other words, I just can’t sit still. When I’m working on the computer, I listen to two radio shows at the same time. When I sit down to eat, I’m thumbing through a newspaper or a magazine. When I’m at a restaurant, I’m checking mobile email or texting (or drunk texting if applicable). I hear this is called an “information junkie.” I guess it fits.

It seems as though if I ever get a free minute, I start a new project of some sort. And that’s exactly how I started up three local businesses, became a writer for a hockey magazine, broadcasted a hockey game on ESPN 3, and now have a gig on two podcasts. So being busy is not all bad, really.

The only time I’m not doing two or three things at the same is when I’m sleeping or playing hockey. This is why I really enjoy playing video games. It takes me out of the rat race while I sit down and play. For me like many others, it’s an escape, a moment away from all the seriousness in our lives. It’s where you can fly a space ship, shoot some zombies, or chillax with a puzzle game.

I started playing video games back in 1977 when my parents got my brother and me a Sears Super Pong IV system that we plugged into our 19-inch black-and-white TV. It had variations of Pong as well as a racing game. From there we got the Atari 2600 and the Mattel Intellivision. It was fun to play Space Invaders at home instead of dropping quarter after quarter into the arcade machines.

As we got older, computers started to spring up, and I remember in high school loading a text-based game into a computer via a tape deck. I think the game was called Miser, and the idea was to escape the house you were trapped in. You just typed in words to get around the house, that’s all there was to it — no graphics or anything. I remember buying a Commodore 64 for the house and programming one of these text-based games myself. It was short and stupid, but it worked. I did some gaming on the C64, including this game called Ultima III Exodus. It literally took me one whole year to play and it used two 5-inch floppy disks. I remember dying after playing for two months, and had to start all the way back at the beginning again. That sucked. There was also this hockey game I played made by some unknown company called Electronic Arts. I wonder what ever happened to them…

Later on, I did some playing on the Nintendo NES. I had a blast playing Mario, though I never could finish it. I did finish one adventure game, I believe it was called The Battle of Olympus or something like that. It was tough getting used to two buttons after many years of one-buttoning it on the Atari 2600 (Now look at the game controllers!).

Then the game that changed gaming for me forever fell into my lap. The year was 1991, and while at UMASS one weekend partying with the heavy metal band I was in, I played NHL Hockey for the Sega Genesis. I remember stealing the instruction booklet from the guy just so I could read about this unbelievable hockey game (I did return it the next morning just so you know). As soon as I got back home I ran out and bought the Genesis and the hockey game. Since then I’ve been a gamer addict.

After the Genesis I had some fun playing the PS1, having your own name on the back of the hockey jersey in NHL Hockey was a wicked cool addition to the hockey series. Me and the wife used to take turns playing Tomb Raider and WWF Wrestling, but aside from that we didn’t do much gaming on the PS1. Then the big decision had to be made: PS3 or the Xbox. What swayed me was the internal hard drive and the faster processor on the Xbox. So I never did get the PS2.

I spent countless hours online playing the Ghost Recon series on Xbox, and I still have some of my original GR friends on my friends list from seven years ago. This is another milestone game for me personally. Growing up, we heard rumors of someday playing a game with a friend in which you each had your own screen (not splitscreen) and saw the game through your own eyes and your friend saw it through his eyes. Everything I had ever played until this point had only one view which everyone shared. So this was a big deal as far as I was concerned.

Eventually I had to upgrade to the Xbox 360 just to keep up with things, and that’s where you’ll find me playing most of my games now. Yeah, I occassionally will break out the Wii for a game or two, or jump on my iPod Touch for some handheld gaming, but the 360 is the mainstay for me right now. And will somebody please make a cribbage game for the Xbox 360 that I can play online?!?

Dave “Holy Goalie” Gardner
GamerTag: Holy Goalie
Twitter: GamerGoalie

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Margaret Atwood

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