Happy Thursday!
This week’s THWL is a little different than usual. Yesterday, we published the final story from our fall mentees, so we’re taking the time to celebrate their work.
We’d also like to thank The Daily Faceoff and Matt Larkin. Since we proposed the mentorship last year, they’ve been great advocates for the program. Here’s a very special shoutout to Matt specifically - aside from serving as a great mentor, he was also responsible for coordinating with us and publishing their work.
The content written over the last few months confirmed what we, here at THWL, already knew. When we give talented marginalized people space and opportunities to be writers in this sport, we, as readers, discover new voices and read wonderful gems like the ones below.
As you’ll note, some of our mentees only have one publication listed. We, unfortunately, realized very early that game-day recaps didn’t have a fast enough turn-around time to be published at a reasonable time. However, we will be publishing and housing their work on a separate website (Side eye emoji).
Our second cohort is underway, and we’re already prepping for next season. Please consider donating to our fund to help support this work: https://bit.ly/3ucCl46.
Our 2022 Fall Mentees
Michael Bourassa (He/Him) - Mentor: Arpon Basu (The Athletic)
Michael is a 23-year-old student at Concordia University currently studying Communications. He is an avid sports fan and spends most of his time watching and discussing sports. He has had a significant passion for sports writing since he was a kid reading the news.
Before Cole Caufield announced he would be out the rest of the season, Michael had the opportunity to do what would turn out to be his last interview of the season. You can read it in this piece called “Cole Caufield: Stevens Point’s Messi on Ice.”
Kirsten Staple (She/Her) - Mentor: Matt Larkin (The Daily Faceoff)
If you told Kirsten Staple (@delreyxhemmings) 3-4 years ago that she would fall in love with hockey, she would not believe you at all because she is not invested in sports. Thanks to Tumblr and a case of curiosity, she can now tell you what icing is (and it’s not what you put on desserts) and holds a special place in her heart for the sport. Kirsten is also a recent college graduate from the University of Texas at San Antonio.
For the program, Kirsten Staple interviewed Brock McGillis (@brock_mcgillis) and Kurtis Gabriel (@kurtisgabriel) to discuss the state of hockey culture. Here is the link: ‘You can’t be just casual on these situations anymore’: A Q&A with Brock McGills and Kurtis Gabriel on hockey culture.
In her second article, “The Jim Benning/Travis Green firings, one year later: How much has changed for the Vancouver Canucks?” Kirsten wrote about the long-suffering Canucks and how the year has played out for them.
Daniel Centeno (He/Him) - Mentor: Kevin McGran (Toronto Star)
Daniel Centeno (@Thedanmikemike) is a multimedia journalist currently working for CJRU 1280 AM in Toronto.
He co-hosts a hockey show called the 2 on 1 Podcast. He is a lifelong hockey fan, especially of the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim. Prior to joining the CJRU staff, Daniel graduated from Toronto Metropolitan University’s Master of Journalism program in 2021.
Daniel Centeno interviewed Nick Robertson & discussed what it means to be a Filipino role model in the hockey landscape, which you can read here: Leafs’ Nick Robertson embraces opportunity to be a role model for next generation of Filipino players, fans.
Maria Fernanda Pavenello (She/Her) - Mentor: Scott Burnside (Burnside On Hockey)
Mafe Pavanello (@mafepavanello) is an aspiring sports writer from Sao Paulo with a degree in Radio, TV & Digital Communications. She is the co-founder of NHeLas, the first women-led hockey publication in Brazil, where she has contributed over the years as a writer, producer and social media manager. She currently produces and hosts NHeLas’ flagship podcast “A Quinta Linha”.
In the article “Breaking the ice: How a young woman’s childhood dream is pushing hockey in Brazil closer to reality” for the program, Mafe wrote about Ana Boghossian, who is growing the game in Brazil.
For her second story, she wrote about how NHL teams are using new and untraditional initiatives to grow the game of hockey. Read it here: NHL’s new initiative focuses on improving outreach to Latino audience.
Karina Wilson (She/Her) - Mentor: Mark Lazerus (The Athletic)
Karina (@kk_rinaa) is a fourth-year journalism major specializing in sports and media, a minor in communication studies and a certificate in sports management at The University of Florida. She plans to attend graduate school following her graduation from UF. Her career aspirations are to be a hockey reporter and a college football sideline reporter.
For her article, “Representation counts’: Growing the game off the ice and in the booth,” Karina Wilson wrote about the state of diversity in hockey broadcasting by interviewing Caley Chelios, broadcaster for the Chicago Blackhawks, and Kim Davis, the senior executive vice president of social impact, growth and legislative affairs for the NHL.
We are deeply proud of the first cohort of mentees and can’t wait to see what’s next for them. They have our support, and we will continue to follow their future endeavours.
With Love,
Perrye & Gaby
This was such a powerful initiative and I've read several of the articles but I'm glad y'all included all the links here because I missed a few and am looking forward to digging into those after work. Thank you!