A Wild Season Underway

The Wild season is in progress and the production team at FOX Sports North is busy keeping the State of Hockey entertained with a variety of special features:

Kevin Gorg & Marney Gellner share "3 Things" about a few of the Wild players.
Video: http://tiny.cc/AuSK1

Minnesota Wild player Brent Burns appears in a instructional with Darby Hendrickson.
Video: http://tiny.cc/b48X2

Minnesota Wild player Cal Clutterbuck gets mic'd up.
Video: http://tiny.cc/mhSWR

The North marketing team is also busy helping promote a few team initiatives, including the Minnesota Wild patch giveaway:

The Wolves Way

The Wolves way is the right way...giving back to the community. The team is committed to making a difference in the lives of others.
Throughout the month of November, the Wolves honored the military with an initiative called “Operation Minnesota Heroes.” They will celebrate the “Season of Giving” throughout the month of December with a number of initiatives, including the "Kevin Love Coat Drive".

Check out a few of the ways the Timberwolves are giving back to the community:

Operation Minnesota Heroes
Video: http://tiny.cc/IBjJ9

Reading Time Out
Video: http://tiny.cc/t4of9

For more information:
http://www.nba.com/timberwolves/community/

Check out a new promo the North marketing team created featuring Jonny Flynn:

Relive the 2009 Twins Season with FOX Sports North

Relive the 2009 Twins Season with FOX Sports North:

"Minnesota Twins: September to Remember"
Relive everything in the run from seven games back through game #163 with extensive commentary from Ron Gardenhire on the twists and the turns and how every game over the final 3 weeks of the season felt like a playoff game.
*Premieres Dec. 12, 7 p.m.

"163 presented by Best Buy" (HD)
A special presentation of the classic 2009 AL Central Tiebreaker, which clinched the Twins’ unbelievable comeback to finally overtake Detroit for the division championship.
*Premieres Dec. 25, 7 p.m.
Jan. 26, 7 p.m.
Feb. 15, 7 p.m.
Mar. 9, 7 p.m

It’s Arrived! www.foxsportsnorth.com

It’s an exciting time to be launching foxsportsnorth.com – the world of new media seems to be changing by the day, and we think our new website positions us to roll with those changes and find new and better ways to connect with our audience. Naturally, video on-demand is a vital part of our new site, where we’re spotlighting the amazing features our production team puts together and posting highlight packages for viewers who want to catch up on what they missed or relive their favorite moments of our recent telecasts.

But we also aspire to be a one-stop shop for the Minnesota sports fan, so we’re committed to providing thorough coverage of our teams through game stories, features, stats and schedules and online community-building features like our forums, photos and comments sections.

Please continue to promote the site to your friends and family, and share your feedback with me – we want to find out what our users like and hear suggestions for ways we can improve the site and provide more of the content our viewers are looking for.

Patrick Donnelly, Digital Content Manager: patrick.donnelly@foxsports.net

Check it Out: http://www.foxsportsnorth.com/

Wild Twitter Ticket Giveaway

Twitter and tickets—free lower level Minnesota Wild tickets to be exact. The Minnesota Wild and FOX Sports North recently came up with a special promotion designed to engage social media users, increase team awareness and promote ticket sales across multiple social media platforms.

Over a week’s time, FOX Sports North and the Minnesota Wild sent out numerous clues on Twitter. Fans collected clues to try to figure out where FOX Sports North reporter Robby Incmikoski was going to be at noon on a game day. The first five people to find him at his secret location (Hockey Lodge at Xcel Energy Center) received a pair of lower level tickets.

Robby "tweeted" his secret location at noon, by 12:05 he had 5 winners. Not to worry, everyone else who showed up still received 15% off at the Hockey Lodge.

Photos: (top) Robby Incmikoski and Nordy get ready to hand out 10 lower level Minnesota Wild tickets. (bottom) A Wild fan races to the Hockey Lodge after the final tweet is sent out.

Hockey Day Minnesota 2010…Coming Soon!

January 23 will be here before we know it. Employees at FOX Sports North, our team partners at the Minnesota Wild and our friends in Hermantown are busy preparing for the big day. Mark your calendars now, it's shaping up to be a big day:

10:00 a.m. Hopkins vs. Duluth-Marshall
1:00 p.m. Eden Prairie vs. Hermantown
5:00 p.m. University of Minnesota vs. St. Cloud State
8:00 p.m. Minnesota Wild vs. Columbus Blue Jackets
11:00 p.m. Duluth vs. Hermantown (girls) TAPE DELAY

Hockey Day Minnesota Shaping Up to be a Big Event
Media: Hermantown Star: http://tiny.cc/7LFeb

Friday Night Fights: Hinckley Grand Casino

It was a first for FOX Sports North, a live boxing event from Hinckley Grand Casino. The crew set up a doubleheader live from Grand Casino where they hosted Qwest Wild Live from the ring, immediately followed by a boxing match-up between Matt “Skelator” Vanda & Phil “The Drill” Williams.

High School Hockey Night Has Arrived

High School Hockey Night, presented by Qwest, on FOX Sports North began on Dec. 4. To view the full schedule: http://tiny.cc/wb4Og

Something New-Fan Photos!
Log on to FOX Sports North’s Facebook page to view fan photos from all of our High School Hockey Night games. www.facebook.com/fsnnorth

Holiday Bubble Tweets

What exactly is a “Bubble Tweet?” It’s a 30 second video message sent to Twitter followers. Click here to check out an example of a
Bubble Tweet: http://bbltwt.com/xqnms

Bubble Tweets make social media more personal and we’re using them to send Holiday greetings to our viewers.

Watch for Holiday Bubble Tweets from our on-air talent this December and RT (“re-tweet”) the message from FOX Sports North on Twitter to wish all of your friends Happy Holidays!

FREEZE FRAME

Joe Mauer MVP Press Conference: Roy Smalley & Robby Incmikoski interview the MVP. Video: http://tiny.cc/a2LS9

The Qwest Gophers Live Crew in Action: Robby Incmikoski, Darby Hendrickson & Tom Chorske. Video: http://tiny.cc/mZfoc

Becky Ross, Anthony LaPanta, Ralph Gasow & Paul Hipp at Target Field to shoot a "Under the Lights: Target Field Nears Completion" episode. Qwest Wild Live Promo Shoot: Editor Tod Lavanty directs Kevin Gorg, Darby Hendrickson, Dan Terhaar & Mike Greenlay

Spotlight: Patrick Donnelly, Digital Content Manager

Give us a detailed job description of what you do at FOX Sports North
I work with our staff here, in Houston and L.A. to ensure that we populate foxsportsnorth.com with all the best video, text, photos, etc. It’s a bit more complicated than that, naturally, but basically I’m helping further promote the station’s brand, strengthen our relationships with our team partners, and give local sports fans a one-stop shop for everything they want to know about the Minnesota and Wisconsin sports scenes.

Where did you attend school?
University of Minnesota – B.A. in English, minor in standing in long lines

What are some of your interests/hobbies?
Watching sports on TV and then writing about it on the internet. Also, reading, cooking, travel, live music, and setting examples (good and bad) for my kids.

Who are the most influential people in your life?
My wife and daughters, who inform my every decision; also Homer Simpson, Sid Hartman, and the barista at Caribou who knows just how I like my coffee.

If I wasn’t doing this job, I would love to…
Be a best-selling author with a lake home on Superior’s north shore and a lot of tweed sport coats with those cool leather patches on the elbows.

Tell us something unique or interesting about yourself.
I was cut from my varsity basketball team as a sophomore, but eventually won an NCAA title and six NBA championships. No, wait, that was Michael Jordan. Umm … OK, I lived in Las Vegas for four years.

If you could have one super power, what would it be?
Time travel, so I could go back and prevent Carrot Top’s parents from ever meeting.