Inside the Press Box: Tim Leone

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 25th installment: Patriot-News Hershey Bears beat writer (and Bruce Boudreau co-biographer) Tim Leone.

1. How did you get started covering the Bears?

I started covering the Bears in 1995. Before that, I was at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune in Florida for 10 years. I was general sports columnist for my last five years there. Before that, I did two years on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers beat. I also did a couple years on the University of Miami football beat and assorted preps. While I was in grad school at USC, I also worked part-time for the Los Angeles Daily News.

I grew up in Rochester, N.Y., as a Rochester Americans fan, so I've been around the AHL my whole life. When the opportunity arrived, covering the Bears was something I wanted to do. Also, my wife, Amy, is from Selinsgrove, Pa., and this was a way to get back closer to our families.

2. How often do you get to cover the Caps and what determines when that happens?

The opening day of prospects camp and training camp are always a lock for me. Sometimes, I'll also attend as a civilian. Regular-season Caps games are more of a grab-bag situation; there's usually a conflict that requires me to do Hershey coverage, so I only average a couple regular-season games. During the Stanley Cup and Calder Cup playoffs, though, I've done a lot of double duty the last two seasons covering all of Hershey's playoff games and trying to do as many of the Caps' home playoff games as possible.

3. How did the idea for Bruce Boudreau's book come about? And what was it like compiling all of those stories?

The seed first planted in my mind when Bruce was promoted in 2007. It seemed a classic Cinderella story in the making, and it proved out when he led the Caps to the Southeast Division championship. I approached him when he was in Hershey in April for a Wilkes-Barre/Scranton series playoff game, and he agreed there might be a book here.

We did roughly 60 hours of interviews all told, most in May-June 2008. Obviously, he's a great talker and storyteller, so it was fun to compile and a challenge to hammer into a life narrative.

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

Certainly, Bruce's 2007-08 saga, capped by the Jack Adams Award. Seeing goalie Frederic Cassivi win the Calder Cup with Hershey in 2005-06, after all his vagabond travels, was cool.

Of course, the 1980 U.S. Olympic victory over the Soviet Union and the subsequent gold medal. I was at George Washington University then and Amy was on the gymnastics team. The Soviet Union game was going to be broadcast on a tape delay and she had already heard the result at practice, but I told her I didn't want to know because I planned to watch the delayed broadcast. After Mike Eruzione scored, I couldn't stand the tension anymore and called her to give me the final score.

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

I lift weights, read, barbecue, walk our basset hound, do yard work and have a small vegetable garden.