"I started at Northeastern (University) as a physics major and during my sophomore year I transferred to communications because I realized pretty quickly that physics just wasn't for me. I've always had a love for sports and hooked up with the radio station on campus. Things kind of fell into place, and by my junior year I was able to do play-by-play for the hockey team and kind of ran with it from there."

Had you done any play-by-play before your sophomore year in college?

"None. At a very young age I realized I wasn't going to be able to play sports at a very high level. I always thought working in sports would be a great career. Like any kid in New England, I started out listening to Red Sox and Bruins games on the radio, and I always thought it would be fun and cool to do, but never really thought about it as a career until I got to college."

When you were a kid, who did you listen to the most?

"Sean McDonough did the Red Sox and Gil Santos with the Patriots. You could tell they both loved what they did."

What was your first game as a play-by-play guy?

Northeastern against Boston College. That's a huge game up in Boston and I kind of dove in head first."

Do you agree that hockey is one of the most difficult sports to call on the radio?

"For me, I don't think so because that's my personality. I'm pretty tightly wound and there's a lot of action on the ice, so hockey works with my personality. I love doing baseball and I've done it professionally, but that slow pace isn't my style. Once you get the pace of hockey down, it's not that hard and it's my favorite one by far."

Did you play hockey growing up?

"No."

Wasn't it hard to pick up the nuances of the game?

"It was and I'm still learning the game. I had a former Northeastern player as my color commentator, so I picked up a lot from him. I knew the basic rules of the game growing up, but I didn't know the subtleties of the sport until I started to broadcast it."

What other sports have you broadcast?

"Football and some basketball in college. I actually got to do a game when Northeastern played against Joe Flacco (Baltimore Ravens quarterback) at Delaware. I never really liked basketball. I don't know why. What I love about hockey is that when someone scores a goal it's a big deal, but there's nothing like that in basketball. Maybe a buzzer beater is the closest thing. I liked announcing the football games, but football was never really that big at Northeastern. There was much more interest in hockey."

Is there much difference doing a college hockey game compared to one in the ECHL?

"Not really. Hockey is hockey, no matter at what level. Your job is the same. The play in the ECHL is a lot more advanced. Hockey East is a good conference for college hockey, so I saw players that have gone on to play in the American Hockey League and the NHL, but the game really isn't that different."

How did you land with the Stingrays?

"I knew I wanted to do something in the ECHL, so I called every team and didn't have any luck my first year out of college. The three previous broadcasters at Northeastern had gone on to the ECHL. I was doing some baseball with the Pensacola Pelicans, an independent baseball team. The PA announcer for the Pelicans, Paul Chesnut, knew (Stingrays president) Darren Abbott and found out that the Stingrays were looking for a play-by-play guy. I knew the old play-by-play guy Mike Kelly, so I called up Darren and in a couple of weeks had the job."

Do you have aspirations of moving up to the AHL or NHL one day?

"Absolutely. That's one of the main reasons I'm here. I love this job, love the city, but hopefully this is a stepping stone and I can move up to the next level."

Talk about being selected as the play-by-play voice for the All-Star game.

"It's a huge honor. I didn't try out for it last year because I knew I wasn't ready. I'm extremely excited about doing it. I know Mike Kelly and Darren Abbott were both selected to do the game, so I've got some pretty big shoes to fill."

Stingrays president Darren Abbot was tremendously popular with the fans when he was doing the team broadcasts. Is he a tough act to f ollow?

"He is. Darren is 'The Voice of the Stingrays' and I doubt that will change. Someone came up to me last year and said I was 'almost' as good as Darren and I took that as a huge compliment."