It’s almost time for the second round of the NHL playoffs, and some of the games couldn’t have been any more exciting. VITAC is right in the midst of the action, captioning the games live on NBC, NBC SportsNet, Root Sports Pittsburgh, and MSG during the quest for Stanley. One of our MVP Realtime Captioners, Suzanne Prince, is enjoying captioning the games even more than most, as she’s a New York Rangers fan. The Rangers are up 3-1 games in their series against VITAC headquarters’ favorite, the Pittsburgh Penguins. Suzanne gave us some inside scoop on captioning, her fandom, and how the two can combine.
Q: You’re a New York Rangers fan. How excited are you that they’re in and doing well in the playoffs?
Suzanne: I am ecstatic the Rangers are doing well in the playoffs. So glad to have our “king” back in between the pipes, even though Talbot played out of his mind during Hank’s time on IR.
Q: You’ve captioned some of the NHL playoffs. What are some of your pre-game warm-ups?
Suzanne: I always use the rosters from each team’s website, check the “news” tabs to see if there have been any changes made to the rosters that might not reflect, (call-ups, [from the minor leagues] injuries) and make sure I have all the coaches’ names as well as management/owners’ names. I also make sure I get the names of refs and linesmen because there’s a good chance the announcers will mention them.
Q: If you’re captioning a Rangers game, is it hard to stay focused on what you’re writing?
Q: Do any of the Penguins fans in the Canonsburg office give you a hard time?
Suzanne: The only Pens fan who gives me grief is [senior production coordinator] Ted Gilliland. However, he seems to have gone into hiding since this series started.
You can catch our captions on game 5 of the Rangers/Penguins series on NBC Sports, or regionally on Root Sports Pittsburgh or MSG Network at 7:00 PM EST.