Senior Reflection: Chris Tsimbinos fulfills a childhood broadcasting dream

Let me set the stage.

It is May 25, 2012; an eight-year-old Chris Tsimbinos is up way past his bedtime watching his New Jersey Devils play the rival New York Rangers in game six of the Eastern Conference Finals. With the game going into overtime, and New Jersey leading the series 3-2, if the Devils score the next goal, they win the series and advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.

As the Devils moved into the Rangers zone just a minute into the overtime period, I soon became mesmerized by one of the greatest hockey calls of all time from the great Doc Emrick.

“Two on one in front blocked there! Scramble for it there they poke away at it! Still it’s loose, poked out by Kovalchuk, they score! Henrique! It’s over!”

It was at that moment I knew that I wanted to be a hockey commentator.

Flash forward six and a half years. I walked into CBA as a nervous and insecure freshman, not knowing what I wanted to do or who my friends were going to be. I soon found my footing with the chess team, the math team, and the tennis team. By the time sophomore year rolled around, I had decided to enroll in the media, marketing, and broadcasting period zero class, as well as the student media homeroom, both taught by Mr. Jason Lutz.

During that year, I was able to learn from CBADN legends such as Jonathan Heite, Shane Brennan and Jack Hipschman, and got a feel for what it was like to be a sports commentator. I started to write articles and make videos for the Student Media website so I could get a sense of how the Digital Network operated and how I could contribute.

I got more experience behind the scenes during junior year when I was worked the camera for the soccer games, as well as a one-man camera stream for the majority of the hockey season. I continued to learn more and more about broadcasting and commentating, and towards the end of junior year, I had found my stride and my group of friends. I knew my final year at CBA was going to be one of the best years of my life.

Now the time had come, I was finally senior. I had been named captain of the chess team and the math team and was training for my final tennis season. I also returned to my cameraman duties when I worked the camera for the soccer before it was my time to be on the call.

Once winter sports rolled around, Mr. Lutz gave me the opportunity to be the color commentator for one of CBA’s first home hockey games. After all my hard work behind the scenes, it was finally my turn to put on the headset. I was to be on the call for my first CBA hockey game alongside CBADN icon and fellow senior Chris Carrino.

When I put on the headset for the first time, I was rushed with nerves and got a little too excited to be on the call. Carrino often had to tell me to slow down and not step into his role of the play-by-play so much. Doing that game with Carrino gave me a perfect sense of how I could be a hockey commentator, and I knew that I had the enthusiasm and the passion to be a broadcaster for the Colts hockey team.

After that first day, the trek to Jersey Shore Arena became part of my weekly routine. I became the play-by-play commentator for the next nine broadcasts and figured out how what kind of broadcaster I wanted to be. I was heavily invested in every moment of every game and would not have wanted to be anywhere else. After having this dream for nearly a decade, I finally got to live it out, and it was well worth the wait.

Luckily for me, the team I got to cover what turned out to be one of the best teams in New Jersey high school hockey history, so I got to be able to make the calls for many spectacular plays. Whether it be a snipe from star forward Zach Wagnon or a phenomenal glove save from the best goalie in the state John Donohoe, I was on-air describing these plays to Colts fans.

On the days when the hockey team was not playing, I would often find myself back on the camera for basketball games or even filming the wrestling matches. Ten minutes after I got home from the CBADN’s final wrestling stream, I got an email from my first-choice college. I had been accepted to Wake Forest University and was going to become a Demon Deacon.

I enjoyed every second I had sharing my excitement for the Colts on the ice. I looked forward to driving to Jersey Shore Arena and setting up the equipment for each broadcast so I could do what I had waited for since I was eight years old. I was sad when I left the arena for the final time, but it was one of the best experiences of my life, and hopefully, Doc Emrick would be proud.

Now in the spring of my senior year, after having helped both the chess team and the math to win second-place in the Shore Conference, I turn my attention back to the tennis court. With one last run, we are looking to shock the Shore Conference after a disappointing end to last season.

As I prepare to go to Wake Forest next fall, I look back on the last four years of my life and becoming a part of the CBA Digital Network was one of the best things I did.

Being the voice of CBA hockey is one of my proudest accomplishments, and I was even happier when Donohoe told me that watching the hockey livestream was just like watching the local Philadelphia Flyers’ broadcast.

Even though I am sad to leave the halls that I have come to know for the last four years, I am excited for the future ahead of me, which I know will include some of the things I learned with the CBADN. Although I will probably be a mathematics major, I do want to continue pursuing broadcasting in college, as well as sports media as a whole.

Although the future of my commentating career will probably not be as exhilarating as it was to call Wagnon going bar-down to score the game-winning goal vs. Don Bosco, or Donohoe flashing the leather against pretty much any team that tried to get the puck past, I will hold the memories I have made with the headset on for the rest of my life.

Being able to share my love of hockey with the rest of Colts Nation was an irreplaceable feeling and is something that I will never forget. While I might be putting down the headset for my high school hockey career, I am just now putting on the headset to begin the rest of my life, stay tuned.