Jack Edwards’ days are filled. Through study of video, articles and statistics, NESN’s play-by-play announcer is updating 800-plus player files so he will be fully informed on every NHL player in the new season.
“It’s really important for me to have a task, to have something to strive for,” Edwards said. “When I don’t, that’s when I get down and mopey.”
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Andy Brickley is busy too. Every day, to stay informed and keep sharp as an observer, the color analyst sets aside a block of time to read hockey stories, call his sources or re-watch games.
“Absolutely. Absolutely,” said Brickley, Edwards’ partner calling Bruins games, when asked he considers this routine important to his well-being.
Sophia Jurksztowicz is on a four-day rotation as host of “After Hours,” NESN’s nightly show. It’s allowed the rinkside reporter and Toronto native to stretch her legs beyond hockey.
“I feel really lucky and happy to go into the office,” said Jurksztowicz, whose shift at NESN’s Watertown headquarters ends at approximately 12:30 a.m. “Many people are still Zooming and working from home in all aspects of different careers. So it’s nice to have that drive. It’s nice to have a place to go and interact with the group. It’s very important to me. Social interaction is very, very important to me.”
Edwards, Brickley and Jurksztowicz are considered full-time contract employees. They are paid even without Bruins games to cover.
“After 30-plus years in the industry,” Edwards said, “I think that is a generosity and caring for its employees in a way that I have not remotely experienced at any time or anyplace else.”
It’s not that way for Billy Jaffe, one of their NESN colleagues.
The studio analyst is an independent contractor. Jaffe’s contract with NESN is based primarily on Bruins games played, and thus appearances made. Jaffe has a similar deal with NHL Network.
Jaffe praised NESN and NHL Network for giving him plenty of work when last season’s playoffs began over the summer. Regular appearances at both networks will resume once the NHL and NHLPA agree on when a new season will begin.
But one reason Jaffe is working part-time as the Eastern Hockey Federation’s director of league development is because of the NHL’s uncertainty. If the season is significantly delayed, to say nothing of canceled, Jaffe, 51, may have to consider additional career alternatives.
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“What keeps me up at night is the only way I make my income to support my family is if they play games,” said Jaffe, husband to Victoria and father to Julia, 13, and Jake, 10. “I also understand the landscape in terms of the amount of games, the amount of outlets and the amount of opportunities could change. It probably will change. It’s going to take some years to get back to where it was, if it ever gets back there again. I’m like a lot of other people right now. My world is changing, and it’s not that comfortable.”
Keeping busy
The Eastern Hockey Federation is home to approximately 6,000 youth players in the Northeast. Massachusetts clubs include the Bay State Breakers, Boston Junior Eagles, Boston Junior Terriers, Bridgewater Bandits, Islanders Hockey Club, Minuteman Flames and South Shore Kings. Jaffe, hired in the spring, works alongside Dave Turk, commissioner of business operations, and Mark Kumpel, commissioner of hockey operations.
Jaffe had already been invested in the federation. He coaches Jake and his 2010 Junior Eagles team.
Now, Jaffe promotes the federation. He conducts interviews with former players such as Charlie Coyle. Jaffe recently participated in a call with Mass Hockey to help devise language for 2021-22 season tryouts.
“It’s been interesting and fulfilling too,” said Jaffe. “When I’m doing an interview or talking with Dave and Mark about situations we need to resolve, it’s nice. My mind is active. It’s moving. It takes my mind off what isn’t happening.”
Jaffe’s primary passion and profession, however, is talking hockey on television. Usually, he is thick in the action before, during and after Bruins games as he highlights plays and explains their importance. Energy is never a problem.
“I love breaking down a great play in a big game and being able to translate that to the audience. That’s what I love,” Jaffe said. “I love talking about hockey, bringing information to light and sharing it with people in a way they can understand, agree or disagree. That’s what I just love to do. I love to talk hockey anywhere they’ll let me do it and share what I know about it.”
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Jaffe has company. During games, Edwards also brings highly caffeinated heat. Brickley provides measured and clear analysis. Jurksztowicz handles, among other duties, player interviews during warmups and intermissions.
They all want to get back to the rink.
“I’m eager. I’m definitely eager to restart,” Brickley said. “Every day I get up and go right to my phone to look for information — that statement from commissioner (Gary) Bettman that says, ‘We have a date, a plan, here’s what we’re going to do.’ ”
When the season starts, Brickley will begin work with a greater sense of security. Brickley’s contract concluded after last season with a two-year option. He entered the option during the shutdown.
At the time, wife Diane’s work was suspended. That will happen when you work for a mobile locker company whose clients include sports stadiums. There were days when uneasiness was a companion. Brickley ultimately agreed on a multi-year option.
“I hadn’t been in that position for a long, long time,” Brickley said. “It was smooth sailing at NESN. There were times when I was sitting at home, my wife’s business is shut down, my girls are home from New York — they could stay employed and work by doing everything virtually — and we’re looking at, very possibly, a changing financial landscape — in an election year. We have capital expenditure projects to do around the house. There’s no money coming in. If you let it, it can overwhelm you.”
Jurksztowicz knows about stress. Her family and many of her friends are in Toronto. Her father has been dealing with an illness.
Jurksztowicz has visited home twice. The first was in June. The second was after the Bruins were eliminated. Both times, she was required to quarantine for two weeks, in the US and Canada, following each border crossing. Because of her father’s sickness, Jurksztowicz could not give him a hug at first sight.
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So as much as she wants to go home for Christmas, Jurksztowicz does not believe that will be likely.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t deeply missing my friendships in Toronto,” Jurksztowicz said. “It’s been lonely here at times, missing my mom and dad.”
Exercise, always a part of Jurksztowicz’s routine, has helped. She started meditating and cooking more — dumplings, chicken broth and noodle soup from her mother’s Polish recipes — since March.
Edwards at work in the NESN booth. (Photo: The Athletic)During the shutdown, Edwards, with assistance from son Elijah, overhauled his basement to build an at-home gym for wife Lisa, which took his mind away from the pandemic. After the Bruins lost to the Lightning, Brickley played golf regularly.
Work, however, has served a critical role in providing structure, purpose and fulfillment.
“I feel like it’s significantly helping me to feel good about contributing to the company while hockey’s not going on,” said Jurksztowicz. “It’s very important for me to be part of a team. It’s very important for me to go into the office and work, for sure.”
Jurksztowicz has been more fortunate than others.
‘I don’t want to stop broadcasting hockey’
Normally, Jaffe’s reps crest between March and May. The playoffs begin. College hockey work comes in. Then in the summer, when his TV appearances wane, Jaffe conducts adult hockey camps at Warrior Ice Arena.
Much of that work took a hit.
“From when hockey went down to now, I’ve lost thousands and thousands of dollars,” Jaffe said. “It’s been a significant amount. I can’t even tell you. I try not to put pen to paper to understand the percentage of income I’ve lost. For me, I’ve lost a significant amount of money. March through May are my most profitable months, hands down.”
In hockey, like many industries, freelancing is common. Jurksztowicz was an independent contractor before being hired by NESN. It’s possible she could have been pushed out of the business if not for the opportunity.
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“I don’t know what I’d do,” she said. “I probably wouldn’t have survived this.”
In normal times, hockey’s gig economy revs up on game days. Broadcasters hire freelancers for work inside the rinks and television trucks.
Some of those jobs returned when the NHL came alive in the playoffs. Opportunities, however, were limited because the games were being produced in Toronto and Edmonton. Even that work has gone away since the conclusion of the postseason.
“There’s a lot of people who make the vast majority of their livings by working games — photographers, audio technicians, replay techs,” Edwards said. “The truck is a very, very busy place. All those seats are empty night after night. A lot of paychecks aren’t coming in. There’s very little safety net for those people. A lot of our friends have been in that position since the middle of March, scrambling for work and trying to find ways to make ends meet. I’m supporting my friends as much as I can. But I’m not capable of writing checks.”
Hockey remains central to Jaffe’s personal rhythms. On average, his son Jake skates five times a week, or three more days than the in-person learning his hybrid school schedule provides. Jaffe most recently spoke from the car during a drive to Tewksbury for a Junior Eagles game.
“We’ve lived a nice life,” Jaffe said. “We’ve worked hard. But we’re not ostentatious people. We live a smart life. Because of that, we’re OK. That said, it’s something I think about every day. That’s my personality. How long is this going to go for? Thankfully my family is OK because I’ve worked hard and done everything I can to keep us in a good position.”
Jaffe can depend on his professional relationship with youth hockey for only so much. His part-time job does not make up for the money he’s losing in television. It’s why he’s thinking, among other things, about ventures in the food industry.
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“I desperately still want to do the business. Absolutely,” Jaffe said. “I’m willing to give it a little bit of time. But how much time can I give it? That’s the question. I don’t want to stop broadcasting hockey and talking hockey. I hope I eventually don’t have to make the decision to do something else. But I’m not ignorant to the fact that things are changing and continue to change. I may have no choice.”
A long recovery
TV insiders point to two things keeping the industry afloat: opinion shows and live sports. The election and its aftermath have fueled the former. The latter has absorbed damage never foreseen.
NESN is trying to recover from an interrupted Bruins season and an uninspiring Red Sox run. If, because of COVID-19 or disengagement between the NHL and NHLPA, the season starts on Feb. 1, it would give the network perhaps a 48-game regular season to begin economic repair. NESN would lose some games to NBC, which is entering the final season of its 10-year deal.
“Between March 10, which was the (last pre-pandemic) game at Philadelphia, and if we start Feb. 1, we’ll have gone, by that time, 11 months with seven telecasts for the Bruins,” Edwards said. “You’re usually counting on 70-plus a year, a round of the playoffs — five or six games in the first round — plus bonus playoff coverage where we do an hour before and an hour after. That’s income for the network as well. That has just gone ‘pfffft.’ It’s not like you can show Terry O’Reilly’s greatest fights and draw anything close to the same number.”
Networks may also have to negotiate new rates with advertisers, some of which are likely to be hurting too because of the pandemic. This would encourage networks to reduce expenses. Covering road games may be out.
This all assumes that hockey can resume at all. Livelihoods are at stake. The security, purpose and dignity of work depends on the puck dropping promptly and safely.
“There are thousands of people,” Edwards said. “Think of the vendors, the guys who sling beer at TD Garden. That went ‘pfffft.’ My heart goes out to them. Most people aren’t as fortunate as I am to be grossly overcompensated for my contributions to society for my entire career. To be working for a company that has kept paying us, despite our lack of tangible production toward the profits of the company, that’s just … I can’t pay tribute to that enough.”
(Photo of Jaffe, right, with, from left, Kathryn Tappen, Martin Biron and Barry Melrose: Dave Sandford / NHLI via Getty Images)
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