For this week’s THWL, we’re celebrating the end of our cohort! Last week, our friends at The Daily FaceOff published the final story of our winter cohort!
With the conclusion of our 2022-2023 cohorts, we’d like to thank everyone involved in putting this project together, including Frank Seravalli, Arpon Basu, Ryan Clark, and Chanel Keenan.
A big thanks to our mentees and mentors, as well, for their trust. It’s been a privilege working with all of them, and thanks to their feedback, we’ll be coming back with an even stronger program next season.
To echo what we said in our last mentorship program roundup, giving talented folks from marginalized communities a chance to work in this space benefits us as readers and the industry as a whole. It is our sincerest hope that moving forward, the industry will see the benefit of these types of efforts. So many interesting topics chosen by our mentees would not have necessarily seen the light of day otherwise. It was a joy to see such a variety of content and writing styles.
For now, grab a little drink and a snack, and give everyone a read!
Our 2023 Winter Mentees
Gary Mok (He/Him) - Mentor: Scott Wheeler (The Athletic)
Gary Mok (he/him) is a Chinese Canadian storyteller who writes fiction, creative non-fiction, and theatre. Most recently, he was a Creator-in-Residence at Toronto’s ‘Factory Theatre’ and can be found posting monthly hockey essays on his blog, ‘bruised pecs.’ Gary is also a teacher, a new dad, and a believer in fortune tellers.
For his first piece, Gary did a profile (part reporting, part essay) on T.J. Brodie titled ‘I’m sure he wanted to be a Cale Makar’: Inside the reinvention of T.J. Brodie.
In his second story for the mentorship, “Brothers, Boy Bands, and Budding Talents: The rise of Taro and Akito Hirose,” Gary interviewed Taro and Akito Hirose to talk about boy bands, brotherhood and how they were sold on signing for the Detroit Red Wings and the Vancouver Canucks.
Check out his newsletter Off Hockey, and look out for his upcoming work at Hockey of Tomorrow!
Dylan Nazareth (He/Him) - Mentor: Ian Mendes (The Athletic)
Dylan Nazareth is a Montreal-based writer and storyteller studying Communications at Concordia University. He is passionate about hockey, sports, and community. He was born and raised in Toronto, where he unpopularly grew up a Habs fan, to the delight of his family in Montreal.
Dylan did a profile on the Montreal Canadiens’ newest rising star in “Hard work pays off for Rafaël Harvey-Pinard.”
For his second story, “NHL Digital Rink Board Advertisements Pose Health Concern for Certain Fans,” Dylan wrote about how the NHL’s digital board ads’ constant glitches pose a risk for fans with epilepsy and other conditions.
Mira Posluns (She/Her) - Mentor: Arthur Staple (The Athletic)
Mira Posluns is a first-year journalism student at the University of King’s College in Halifax, N.S. Originally from Toronto, she was the editor-in-chief of her high school paper and is a contributor to the Dal Gazette. Mira has a strong interest in sports journalism and wants to cover the NHL for Sportsnet or TSN in the future.
In her article “Toronto Maple Leafs’ hidden strength key to sustained success,” Mira wrote about the 2022-2023 Maple Leafs' bottom six.
Mira wrote about the blind hockey community for her second story, “Blind Hockey: More than just a developing sport.”
Lainie Yank (She/Her) - Mentor: Scott Powers (The Athletic)
Lainie is a junior studying English Literature and Spanish at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin. She was born and raised in the suburbs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, growing up on Brewers baseball and Bucks basketball (and, of course, the AHL’s Admirals). As a sports fan who is also deeply engaged with current social-political trends, she’s hopeful that sports — and writing about them — can be both a vehicle for and a reflection of broader social change.
Lainie wrote about Connor Bedard and what drafting him meant to the Chicago Blackhawks, who got the No. 1 pick: “Looking Ahead: What Drafting Connor Bedard Can Do For a Struggling Team.”
In her story “Finding home away from home: Milwaukee’s Askarov and Afanasyev on the Russian experience playing in North America,” Lainie did a profile on the two Russian players of the Milwaukee Admirals.
Frank Zawrazky (He/Him) - Mentor: Willie Ramirez (AP Sports)
Frank Zawrazky is a multimedia journalist and broadcaster looking to evolve in the sports media world. He hosted a national hockey podcast, Tomahawk Roundup, for five years before making the jump to play-by-play. At the age of 20, Frank became the youngest broadcaster in junior hockey, joining the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the United States Hockey League in September 2022 as their play-by-play voice. In March 2023, Frank joined the Fargo Force as their Media Coordinator. Frank is obtaining a B.A. in Multimedia Journalism with a minor in Sports Management from Loyola University Chicago, graduating early with honors in December 2023.
Frank gave us a look inside Marchand and Miller's outdoor company in his piece “The Outdoor Rats: The Rise of March & Mill Co.”
For his second article, titled The Spectrum of Hockey: Elliotte Friedman’s window on Hockey is For Everyone, Frank spoke to Elliotte Friedman for #AutismAcceptanceMonth.
We look forward to continuing working on this next season! If you’re interested in applying, please keep an eye out for an application opening in the next couple of months.
In the meantime, consider donating to our fund and help us support our work for next season!
See y’all soon!
With Love,
Gaby and Perrye