You've been handed booth duty. Maybe you volunteered, maybe you missed the meeting. Either way, here's how to run music at a youth hockey game without missing the game yourself.
Before game day.
- Know the setup. Ask the rink or your team manager how the PA works. Most booths take a phone or laptop through a headphone jack, a cable adapter or Bluetooth.
- Get the roster. Names, numbers and how to say each name. Mispronouncing a kid's name over the PA is the one mistake they'll remember.
- Pick your songs by moment. Warm-up, goal, penalty, faceoff, breaks and a final song. Clean edits only.
- Pick one horn. Consistency makes it feel like home ice.
At the rink.
- Turn on Do Not Disturb. A text or a phone call through the arena speakers is the most common booth mistake.
- Check the volume during warm-up, with the stands filling up. It always sounds louder in an empty rink.
- Run the lineup before puck drop, then a hype song. Fade it as the teams line up.
During play.
You only need to react to four things:
- Your team scores. Horn right away, then the scorer's name, then the goal song. Fade it before the faceoff.
- The other team scores. Nothing. No horn, no song. Fade anything that's playing.
- A penalty. A short penalty song while the player heads to the box.
- A faceoff. A few seconds of music until the puck drops. Never play over live action.
Rule of thumb: music when the play is stopped, silence when the puck is live.
Breaks and the final buzzer.
Between periods, play music while the ice is being cleared, then fade it when the teams come back. At the end, a win gets a victory song. A loss or tie gets something calm for the handshake line. The kids on the other team are kids too.
Good sportsmanship in the booth.
- Don't celebrate the other team's penalties.
- If it's a blowout, drop the horn and call-outs. Everyone can tell the score.
- Every player gets the same call. Your own kid included, and nobody gets an "again!" for a second goal.
The easy way.
Sideline DJ turns all of this into a few buttons. The screen follows the game from pre-game to final, and in each part it only shows what you need. Tap Goal and it does the horn, the call and the song. Tap Opponent and it stays quiet. See how it works.