Inside the Press Box: Brian McNally

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 15th installment: Examiner Staff Writer Brian McNally.

1. What first brought you to the Examiner and how long have you been with them?

I started working at the Examiner -- then called the Northern Virginia Journal -- in 2001, right after I graduated from the University of Maryland. I covered high school sports in Prince William County for the first year and throughout all of Northern Virginia after that. Our paper had a change of ownership in 2005 and the name switched to the Examiner. Last winter, we morphed into a pro/college sports section, which led me to the Caps beat. I also cover the Nationals for our paper.

2. How does covering the Caps compare to covering other local teams?

Covering the Caps isn't too different from the other local pro teams. I think all reporters recognize on some level that it can be a grind for athletes to talk with the media and answer some version of the same questions day after day. If Alex Ovechkin was told he'd never have to answer another Sidney Crosby/Evgeni Malkin question, he'd probably leap into a wall to celebrate.

But hockey players also seem to realize that there are worse problems. The team's public relations staff does an amazing job and genuinely wants fans to have more access to the players and to better promote the sport. That makes our job a lot easier.

3. Where do you think the Examiner ranks among local publications and do you think the Web impacts your readership?

The newspaper business is in the midst of huge changes, but I think our paper has a business model that works and still allows its reporters to compete. We're getting better and better. Of course, the Web has a huge impact on our readership. This year, we have a revamped Web site -- with more changes coming soon -- and have been able to ramp up our coverage.

I can post longer game stories and any breaking news on our Web site, dcexaminer.com, and should have a Caps' blog up and running later this month. The ultimate goal is to give fans another outlet for hockey coverage, hopefully with our own unique spin on things. The demand is definitely there and that makes it an exciting time to cover the Caps.

4. What are some of your favorite hockey-related memories?

I grew up in Silver Spring and have lived in the D.C. area my entire life. My favorite hockey memory still has to be Dale Hunter's overtime goal against the Flyers in 1988. I was a 10-year-old kid listening to Ron Weber's entire radio broadcast on WTOP in our kitchen -- my family had cable, but my parents wouldn’t pony up the extra cash for Home Team Sports (not that I'm bitter) so I never got to watch the home games. It still ranks among the most thrilling sports moments I've ever seen/heard.

A few months ago, I found a YouTube clip of TSN's Canadian broadcast of that game. It's weird because I had never actually seen video footage of it. My entire memory of that night is from the radio and the scene I created in my mind. That seems impossible now and makes me feel like I'm 100 years old -- today I could watch the whole thing five minutes after it happened even if I missed the game.

The TSN broadcast -- the announcers were the great Jim Hughson and Gary Green, I believe -- also put that game in a context I had almost forgotten. The Caps were one of the NHL's best for three straight years from 1983-84 to 1985-86 -- all three of those teams topped 100 points, something they've done just once since. But they just couldn't make it out of the Patrick Division, twice blowing series leads against the Islanders in 1985 and 1987 (the infamous FIRST four-overtime loss, which I fell asleep listening to and actually had to read the next day's paper to find out what happened).

So when Hunter took that pass up ice from Larry Murphy, deked Ron Hextall on the breakaway and scored the game-winner, the moment has incredible meaning. Sure, it was just a first-round series. In the grand scheme of things, the 1998 Eastern Conference-clincher against Buffalo was far bigger. But that team was a one-hit wonder, a mix of younger stars and aging vets that fell apart the next year.

Those mid-1980s Caps really thought they were championship caliber, yet came up short in the playoffs five years in a row. That's a lot of anguish packed into one celebration and you can see that in the angle TSN used to end its coverage. On the final replay, Hunter skated out of the corner, leapt into the air with his arms raised, and past the ice-level camera, which turned slightly to show the Caps pouring off the bench and the old Capital Centre crowd flipping out behind them.

There just aren't that many moments in D.C.'s sports history that give you chills. But that's definitely one of them.

5. What occupies your time when you're not working?

I seem to spend far too much time shot-gunning DVDs of my favorite TV shows -- although I try to limit that since I end up not sleeping for days at a time. I think I finished all five seasons of "The Wire" in about two months after the Caps were eliminated last spring. I also read a lot -- pretty much any good non-fiction book that comes my way.

I went to El Salvador last Christmas and have a trip planned to Ireland in August. But I'd love to travel more. And I always spend a good chunk of time on the Outer Banks every summer.