Inside the Press Box: Lisa Hillary

Storming the Crease is conducting a series of interviews with people who cover (or work for) the Caps and the NHL. You can find a link to the series archives on the right sidebar. Today's 11th installment: Comcast SportsNet Anchor/Reporter Lisa Hillary.

1. Why did you decide to leave Canada to work in the United States?

I got out of the business and I missed it terribly. I had gone to Toronto and I did that and I worked for TSN, which I think is the best of the best in Canada -- it's Canada's sports leader. I felt that I had done all of that, so where else could I go? I'm represented by Sharon Chang of IMG; if you want to be represented by anybody, it's a feather in my cap that IMG decided to pick me up. They represent Tiger Woods and others. So she basically got me three interviews: one at ESPN, one at MSG in New York and the other one was here. So they fly you there and you have an interview.

I'm at a stage of my life, I'll be 39 on Friday, so it was about the job but also where I wanted I wanted to be. You talk about balance and how important it is in life; at this stage of my career, that's what I wanted. It wasn't about working for the best -- ESPN, just like TSN, and I had already done that. So why go do the same thing I've already done?

To be honest with you, as soon as I got off the plane, I fell in love with D.C. It reminds me so much of home, of Ottawa. And, again, it's an hour flight door-to-door or about an eight-hour drive. So all that factored into it and I thought long and hard. And I knew I was going to be covering hockey, I knew Alex Ovechkin was likely going to be here for a long time. All of that played into my decision -- to be a beat reporter and not have to travel hardly at all, except for the playoffs. And I get time to do other things such as desk work. And it was really the best of both worlds.

It's never really all the same, all the time, which is where I had kinda been at TSN, where I anchored the 1 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. show every Thursday, Friday and Saturday for a year. That's no fun and you have no life. So, yeah, I took this and I've never looked back.

I signed a two-year contract, it's actually coming up in June and we'll re-evaluate then. But I certainly love it and I'm having a ball here. I love it.

2. How has your time in D.C. been so far?

It's funny, a lot of people ask, 'is this your first time ever living in the States?' and I say 'yeah.' And they all say 'oh, it must be so different!' I tell you what, it's not. People don't realize, I don't know if they've never been to Canada, but it's really not much of a shock. I've traveled my whole life. Growing up, we went to Florida all the time. There's really no difference. Of course, getting all your paperwork done is kinda a pain. The company took care of that for me initially and I've got a working visa, the same as the hockey players do. It's a 01-type visa that actors get when they go to the States for work or to Canada or whatnot. Someone like Mike Green, who's from Canada, would have the same type of visa that I have.

So none of that was really the adjustment. Little things like the way you guys do your banking is very different from the way we do our banking. Little things like that. Customer service, anal things like that, if I can say that. Things that I sort of miss about home, to be quite honest with you. But, other than that, you know, there's no snow, which I miss and that's a big deal. And I'm not home for Christmas.

My parents and my niece and my sister are coming here on Sunday for two nights, so right before Christmas, so that'll be nice. We're going to have a little birthday/Christmas [celebration]. So that'll be fine. I offer to work Christmas only because there's so much hockey and I don't want to miss a hockey game. I really don't, I want to be there for all of them. There's a [Caps] game on the 26th, which makes it tough to go home. That's fine; my family's coming down here for a couple of days before.

As I say, it's so close. I'm really blessed. It's so beautiful and there's so much to do. I live near Georgetown, so it's a great walking city, which is like what we have in Ottawa.

3. Please describe any similarities or differences between your role as anchor and sideline reporter.

When was at TSN, I did pretty similar stuff. The only thing that I'm having, even to this day, a hard time with -- and it's not a hard time when I'm anchoring, it is what it is and we write all of our own stuff and I read highlights, that's not an issue -- but college is so big here and we don't have [that kind of] college atmosphere [in Canada]. We don't get thousands and thousands of people out to our university football games. Maybe once a year for the championship games, but even then it's 1,000 people or something -- but not at all the way it is here. And even your high school sports are so big.

So I have a hard time getting geared up; I can get geared up with everybody at work and get all pumped up, but it's really hard. There are a lot of Terp fans at work and I love seeing the excitement and they're so into it. I went to my first college game; I covered the Terps' first home game and I really got to see it then, what it was all about. It was really neat and I loved being a part of it.

But I'm glad I get to learn everything; that's really important to me when I took the job. I really have covered all the sports. I've had to go out to Redskins Park from time to time and I've [covered] the Ravens. It's good that I get to anchor because I can be on the ball. I love it, I love both. I would not want to just one thing, I really wouldn't.

A lot of people say anchoring is the end-all, be-all and that's where you make the most money. For me, to be quite honest with you, reporting is a lot tougher than anchoring. And you've got to pull stories out of your butt sometimes and you gotta walk into that locker room. Or, you're at a hockey game, for instance, and you're starting to write your story and it's 4-1 for the Caps and, all of a sudden, the other team with five minutes left scores three quick goals to tie it up. All of a sudden, your story changes and you've got three minutes to write it and you've got to turn it around and get it on the air.

To me, that's a lot tougher than sitting at a desk and writing four or five on-cameras for a half-hour show and then doing highlights. But that's where the money is, and that's fine, but to me that's not what it's about. It's about doing what you love. And I love reporting because it also gets you out in the field and you're interacting with people. When you anchor, we go in at 3:00 and, at Comcast, you're usually doing the 6:00 show and the 10:00 and you're there from 3-11. You basically go to your desk by yourself and just sit there and watch the game and you're writing and the line-up's in there, but you're not really interacting much. You're interacting with the person sitting next to you, but it's not the same as being at a game at all.

4. What hockey-related memories stick out in your mind?

When I lived in Calgary, the Flames made the playoffs and they lost to Tampa in the Stanley Cup finals. That was a big deal. I had been in Calgary for just over a year, they had their ups and downs there. The way they were able to turn it around the way they did, that was a big deal up in Canada. And that was pretty neat.

And of course here covering the Caps. I was in Philly covering that series. You know, as a reporter, you're taught to separate your feelings for the beat with your reporting, but it's really hard -- especially covering the Washington Capitals and the Calgary Flames. They're two organizations that are really near and dear to my heart. Toronto, not so much, not because I don't like them; it's very corporate, it's really hard to get up close with them and I was doing a lot more anchoring than reporting there anyway. It's really hard to get a feel of the players, whereas with the Caps and Flames, it's community-oriented. They make you feel like you're with them, like you're part of the family and I love that.

5. What do you do for fun when you're not busy with CSN?

I found it tough when I first came here meeting people other than people at work; you want to separate your fun from work. And I had a dog, a chocolate lab, before I moved here and he died. And I swore I would never get another one. Well, as soon as I got here, of course I'm working more evenings than days, I went back on my promise and I got a yellow lab and he's now a little over a year old. He's 110 pounds and his name is Buddy. And ever since I got him I've met so many people at the dog park and whatnot, it sounds sorta funny. I've met a good group of people that I go out with, I'm really lucky in that way.

I'm really big on going out to eat when I'm off. I played a little bit of soccer when I first came here but it's tough because my schedule is all over the place. And I played soccer before I came here and I really wanted to play more. I'm an avid spin class person. I'm out with the dog and active.

As I said, I live in upper Georgetown/Glover Park area. I'm always out and about. I ski and snowboard and I try do all that. The summer is when I try to take most of my time off. We have a summer cottage on an island where we boat and water ski so I try to hold off on all of my vacation and go home for 2-3 weeks in July and August, when it's beautiful back at home. My parents live right on the water so we're really lucky that way.

Here, the one thing I have to say that I miss about home is the water. They say you shouldn't let a dog swim in the water here, whereas at home we're surrounded by fresh water and you can just jump in it.