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Lightning's Miskin Values ECHL Experience

February 3, 2009

By Eric Knopsnyder
For The Tribune-Democrat

TAMPA, Fla. — Dave Mishkin says he wouldn’t be where he is today without the experience he got in Johnstown.

The Tampa Bay Lightning’s play-by-play radio broadcaster spent three years in the Flood City calling Chiefs games, and said that ECHL experience was invaluable for him. Mishkin eventually moved on to the American Hockey League, spending eight years with the Hershey Bears.

The NHL opportunity came in 2002, when he landed with the Lightning, and just a year later he was hoisting the Stanley Cup. But Mishkin never forgets where it all began for him.

“That was a very important cog in helping me mature and grow as a broadcaster,” he said of Johnstown. “I can say definitively that I wouldn’t be in the NHL today if I wouldn’t have had that opportunity in Johnstown. And I probably wouldn’t have gotten that Hershey job if not for the opportunity provided to me by (former Chiefs general manager/minority owner) John Daley in hiring me right out of college.”

But there was more to Miskin’s enjoyment of Johnstown than just the experience he gained.

“I have nothing but fond memories about my time there and the people there,” he said. “We had some very, very good years there from ’91-94, when I was there. The fans made it possible.”

Mishkin has seen the good and the bad during his time with the Lightning.

They won the Cup in his second season, but last year they were the worst team in the NHL.

Through Sunday, the Lightning were in 12th place in the 15-team Eastern Conference and were next-to-last in the Southeast Division.

“From an on-ice standpoint, we’ve seen both ends of the spectrum,” Mishkin said from his broadcast booth in the St. Petersburg Times Forum. “The only thing I can say is it’s been great coming to work for this organization. That’s one of the things you don’t usually have a choice to pick in this business. I felt fortunate to land is such a good spot.”

Mishkin drew international attention during the Lightning’s Cup run, as his energetic calls were featured on a number of sports stations.

“As a kid growing up, I always felt more connected to the announcers that wore their team’s colors on their sleeve,” Mishkin said. “I wasn’t going to be afraid to show emotion.”

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