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Andrew Mossbrooks just landed a gig he’s been waiting for: he’s the new voice of the Cyclones, a professional hockey team based in Cincinnati, Ohio. The 2018 Millersville University graduate is settling into his role as the director of public relations and broadcasting for the team.
His journey to get there was years in the making. Mossbrooks said he first began experimenting with his “announcer voice” during middle school while playing video games online with his friends. “I was always interested in announcing sports, but I think it went unnoticed even to myself,” he says. “I would mimic the broadcasters I saw on TV and try to put my own clever spin on it. It was meant to be a joke, but people started saying ‘Hey, you actually sound pretty good.’”
Mossbrooks is a lifelong hockey fan and player. Post-high school and before he enrolled in college, he says he sat down one evening to catch a Flyers game and the idea suddenly struck him. “I see the broadcaster Jim Jackson open up the telecast and begin talking. That’s when it hit me. I’m thinking to myself, ‘Wait…so this guy gets paid to talk about hockey and watch a hockey game? Well, I love hockey and I talk about it and watch it all the time.’ That’s when I knew I wanted to pursue broadcasting and become a hockey play-by-play broadcaster.”
He worked hard to make that dream come true by enrolling in the speech communication degree at MU in 2014 and taking advantage of on-campus opportunities to practice his budding skills. “Getting to broadcast and do play-by-play for the ACHA D2 Millersville Marauders hockey team was a huge aid in my development of being comfortable on air and learning through mistakes on a platform that you could make them,” Mossbrooks shares. “To have that shot right away as a freshman coming in was great.” He also worked at Millersville’s student-run radio station, WIXQ. “That experience grew my confidence and character being on the mic and having a personality,” explains Mossbrooks. “I got comfortable in my own skin, and I think it added to my ability to be a quality broadcaster.”
Following graduation, Mossbrooks began applying for jobs and wound up working two part-time demanding jobs: one as the director of communications for the Wilkes Barre/Scranton Knights and the other in an assistant role for the media department for the Philadelphia Flyers. His commute to work was nearly three hours. “It was a daunting drive every week and not for a lot of pay, but at that point in your career when you’re starting out, you need the experience more than anything else,” he says. He also worked as the director of communications/broadcasting for the Peoria Riverman ice hockey team in Peoria, Illinois.
Eventually, he was tipped off by a friend about a position opening up with the Cyclones and put in his application. “I’ve since found out well over 100 candidates applied for the position,” shares Mossbrooks. After several months-long delays due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, they offered the job to Mossbrooks who happily accepted. “This team has a rich tradition of successful hockey, and they’re embedded in a top-30 market with other major sports and entertainment outlets to make this an amazing place to live,” he shares. “I couldn’t be prouder to be a member of the Cincinnati Cyclones family.”
Mossbrooks says he’s enjoying every moment of his new job. “There’s nothing like getting to go up into a broadcast booth and put the headset on,” he says. “This is a game I loved growing up. Every night you’re calling the action over a sea of thousands of fans screaming and chanting all night long. There’s music, there’s the sound of skates carving through the ice and sticks making contact with vulcanized rubber. There’s just something about it. You feel so engaged with all the people there. It’s like going to a party every week.”
He says he’s grateful for the help he’s received along the way, especially from his mother and grandmother. “They helped me so much each and every year with moving into my dorm and getting me groceries, giving me some extra money to take care of myself each semester,” says Mossbrooks. “There’s a lot of people who I’d credit with having some part, no matter how big or small, in helping me get to where I am, but my mom and nana were instrumental in helping me and I really don’t know if I’d be able to have done some of the things I have without their support.”
