Adey excited by chance to sit down with coaches

Photo: @Padey22

Premier Sports TV analyst Paul Adey was back on hand as part of the live commentary team when we started in Sheffield last weekend. Ahead of Sunday's live game in Coventry, we caught up with the 2014 Elite League championship-winning coach to get more details about what goes into a live game broadcast.

"Yeah it was pretty great to be back, it had been been a long time!," began the former Elite League coach. "I’d done some work with Aaron Murphy in May during the World Championships which was really exciting, but it was nice to get back to the Elite League which he and I are very passionate about.

"We couldn’t have asked for a better game to start with, going to overtime, which is exactly what you want for the fans in the building and watching at home."

While the game starts in the evening, and the show begins approximately 30 minutes before that, a lot more goes into game day preparation than meets the eye. "‘Murph' loves to get there early and be behind the scenes, trying to do everything he can to help out," Adey revealed. "Chris Ellis & I always ask when to be there to get there at the same time, so we were there in Sheffield 4-5 hours before the game to get our stuff sorted and be organised. We also record a few features to use in the broadcast, too."

One of those features is the new "Coach-2-Coach" interviews which sees Adey himself take on the role of interviewer. :I think it’s important to hear from the coach but not necessarily about the Xs and Os, but more about the person and what they’re trying to do," he explained. "I think every coach in the league has a different mindset as every coach’s job is slightly different on what they’re trying to do, and sometimes you’re trying to get the person to open up and talk through things in a comfortable, relaxed manner.

"I think Coach-2-Coach is a great way to do that as it's an easy-going interview. Aaron fox was fantastic and is a really good guy to interview and talk hockey with, he's not afraid to give you good information about his team and what he’s trying to do."

The first live broadcast saw technical problems delay the show going on air, and miss some graphics that are normally part of the Premier Sports live game production. "When we get into the gantry, what comes out of our mouths is what we have control of, everything else we don’t. But Aaron takes it all on his shoulders, and personally if it’s not perfect, so it hit him hard that it wasn’t the perfect start," said Adey. Obviously, the goal is to start everything right off, but we all know sometimes you just get connection issues, we’ve all seen it even on our own computers, so many people involved with the whole set up, there were bound to be some issues for the first game."

Looking ahead to Sunday, what does Adey expect to see when Coventry face Sheffield? "These fixtures are always a good rivalry too, I find they have a good relationship between the teams and it’s always a close game on the ice," he said. "The fans are very passionate there in Coventry, and it’s easy for the away team to get distracted.

"When I went there with Belfast, we played really well in Coventry but we said to the guys not to get involved with the fans and focus on the game. After I remember one of their fans saying to us “You’re a good team, well done”, so the Blaze fans will be against you for the game but pat you on the back if you have a good one."