STEELHOUNDS On the road, play-by-play is listener's link

By TOM WILLIAMS
VINDICATOR SPORTS STAFF
YOUNGSTOWN -- With half of the Youngstown SteelHounds' 64 regular-season games being played far from the Youngstown Convocation Center, radio will be an important way for local fans to keep up with the newest team in the Central Hockey League.
The job of keeping hockey fanatics up-to-date on the SteelHounds is Bob Hoffman's and his is a voice of experience. The Ohio native has broadcast minor-league hockey games for teams in Arkansas, Kentucky, Texas and Utah.
Although coming home to the Buckeye state meant stepping down a level in minor league hockey, the "Voice of the SteelHounds" is happy to be close to his hometown of Cuyahoga Falls.
Family ties
"I have a 3-year-old daughter [Gabrielle] who had only seen her grandparents a couple of times," said Hoffman, a 1990 graduate of Cuyahoga Falls High School who has five siblings living in the Akron area. "Eighty percent of this decision was about coming home. I want to establish some roots and be close to my family and a lot closer to my wife's family in Louisville [Ky.]"
For the past four seasons, Hoffman was the play-by-play broadcaster for the Utah Grizzlies of the American Hockey League (comparable to baseball's Triple A). The SteelHounds are a CHL expansion team (think Double A ).
Still, when Hoffman heard last November about ice hockey coming to Youngstown, he started thinking about relocating.
"Last winter when the Grizzlies came to Cleveland, I met [owner] Herb [Washington] and got the ball rolling," Hoffman said. "Even though Utah was a lot closer to the NHL, I knew this is where I wanted to be."
The SteelHounds have a three-year agreement with WBBW-AM 1240 to carry their games. The first broadcast will be Friday at 8:15 p.m. when the SteelHounds make their debut in Tulsa, Okla., against the Oilers.
WBBW, part of the Cumulus Broadcast Company, is so serious about ice hockey that they are bumping their high school football broadcasts from live to tape-delay status.
Hoffman's road to Youngstown has taken him across the Midwest. After graduating from Kent State University with a degree in broadcast journalism, Hoffman interned for SportsChannel Ohio [now FOX Sports Net Ohio]. That led to a computer graphics job with Questec, the company that provides computer report cards of major league umpires.
Hoffman grew up enjoying "the speed and excitement" of ice hockey even though the closest NHL teams were hours away.
"That summer, I sent resumes out to every team from the New York Rangers to Junior A teams," Hoffman said.
He received a job offer to work for the Western Professional Hockey League. A year later, he began broadcasting games for the WPHL's GlacierCats in Little Rock, Ark.
That led to jobs with the Louisville (Ky.) Panthers (AHL) and the San Antonio Iguanas (CHL). Four years ago, he was named the CHL's Public Relations Executive of the Year, which earned him the Utah opportunity.
Spouse at games
He met his wife, Melissa, in Kentucky.
"She had gone to some Panthers games, but she wasn't a fanatic," Hoffman said. "Now she's more of a fanatic."
Hoffman's stepdaughter Dana lives with them in Austintown.
Part of the appeal of working for the SteelHounds is the opportunity to do more than broadcast games. Now, he's involved in marketing and advertising and he's happy to be wearing more than one hat.
"I'd like to stay in hockey as long as they'll have me," Hoffman said.
williams@vindy.com