Hi EOTP, it’s been a while. The last time I wrote for this website was in early July of 2015, when I announced I was leaving to join Sportlogiq, a start-up hockey analytics company in Montreal.
Nearly 10 years later, I’m coming back. Not as manager, Justin and Jared have that handled, but as a weekly feature writer to bring you top-tier Habs analysis that doesn’t exist elsewhere. But before we get into the future, I think it’s appropriate to take a walk down memory lane, or for the new folks, let me introduce myself.
Back in December, 2012 I was promoted from a contributor at EOTP to managing editor, and I was highly motivated to build something special. The first order of business was to add some great contributors, and holy heck did we ever run an all-star lineup.
From bringing in Laura Saba/theactivestick, to Marc Dumont, Scott Matla, Matt Drake, Arik Parnass, Namiko Hitotsubashi, Aruny Siv, Sam Li, Robert Rice, Justin Blades, Ian Murray, Stephen Demone, Mark Millard, Matthew Macaskill, Robyn Flynn, Olivier Bouchard, Stephan Cooper, Mark Black, Veronica Canete and so many others added to our existing staff like Bruce Peter and Chris Boyle.
After I left, Marc added great people like Jared Book, Patrik Bexell, Mitchell Brown, and more. Each of these people played a part in building Eyes On The Prize from the 26th-biggest NHL site on SB Nation to a titan that dominated the conversation at the Bell Centre, with over 400,000 unique visitors per month by the time I left.
-Andrew Berkshire“I have always prided myself on finding the patterns behind information. Whether it’s recognizing greatness or problems in hockey, seeing through the chaos politically, or seeing the trend in media in this country. The fact is, legacy media is dying.“
Building EOTP with a team of some of the best people in this industry that I’ve ever met is an enduring source of pride for me, but at the time I didn’t realize the cost of it. I used to tell people that I worked 10-16 hours per day, every day, which I ran EOTP. Folks would laugh and call me a liar, but that was the truth!
An ADHD diagnosis in March, 2024 allowed a lot of pieces to slot into place, and I realized that I was essentially stuck in a hyper-focus mentality for nearly 3 years, deteriorating physically because of my commitment to ‘making it.’
Leaving Eyes On The Prize was a difficult decision, but making a real salary in hockey media while working for a Canadian company was an offer I just couldn’t pass up.
Sportlogiq, and Starting a Family
As the seventh person hired at Sportlogiq, first as a consultant, then handling their media division, I had a mandate I could really sink my teeth into; get the hockey public to understand the value of microstats.
As the public face of Sportlogiq data for several years, I was writing five research pieces every week, three for Sportsnet and two for RDS. With a focus on communication and encouraging the understanding of a whole new batch of statistics, I had to soften my tone in mainstream media quite a bit, but I still managed to make Marc Bergevin so mad that he called my boss to scream at him about me the day of the P.K. Subban trade (no regrets).
The stability of earning a real paycheque at Sportlogiq allowed my wife Kish and me to start a family as well. In 2017 we welcomed Dylan to the world, and a few years later in 2020 we welcomed Miles.
Becoming a parent gave me an all-new perspective on life, and forced me to think much more about work/life balance.
While balancing a relatively heavy workload, COVID-19 hit just before Miles was born, and hockey stopped. I was stuck in wait mode until the NHL announced they were going to have the playoffs late in the summer, with the following season shortened, and beginning starting up not long after. As the 2020-21 season inched closer, I hadn’t heard anything from Sportlogiq, but the companies I was contracting out to were asking when I could start writing for them.
Shortly before Christmas (but after all the present buying was done), I got the email inviting me to a meeting, only to be told the company needed to make more money and I was too expensive, so I was being laid off right before the season began.
It’s a situation that almost everyone in this industry has dealt with in the last handful of years, and suddenly our little family was trying to scrape out a living on bits of freelance work with two young kids, and my partner on maternity leave.
Game Over: A Post-COVID Media Landscape
We scraped and clawed through the 2020-21 NHL season, and the playoffs offered a new idea. With everyone stuck at home during COVID while the Habs were on their epic run to the Stanley Cup Final, it felt like there was all this energy but nowhere to go. Broadcasts were no longer interested in post-game analysis, and the radio doesn’t do a great job unless you’re angry Uncle Leo calling in to yell about Carey Price only making 36/37 saves on a given night.
The idea was to create a new space for younger and progressive fans, free from the encroaching toxicity that has taken over many sports spaces. To provide a platform for young people trying to break into the industry, like we had done with Eyes On The Prize. I called Adam Wylde of SDPN, Inc. and pitched the idea, and they loved it.
We started a pilot for the Montreal market, testing the waters for the World Juniors and Olympics at the same time. We found success despite the Canadiens going from the Stanley Cup Final to the absolute basement, and before long expanded to Toronto and Calgary for the playoffs, and all seven Canadian markets the following season.
We brought in amazingly talented people from all over the country, with the plan being to slow roll it, let these people new to hockey media find their voices while being paid, and build a relationship with the audiences. Year over year we were on track to grow over 26% as a brand within SDPN, before financial realities forced them to make some difficult decisions in early 2024.
Building Something Better While the World Burns
Something that has always been important to me is radical honesty. I think one of the reasons I built an audience originally at EOTP is because I wear my heart on my sleeve, and while many people don’t appreciate my tone or opinions on certain topics, I am authentic in my approach.
When things didn’t work out at SDPN, I was devastated to say the least. Not only was I facing yet another financial challenge, but this time it was friends doing the letting go, and my whole team of 20 were gone with me.
I took some time to reflect, and made some changes. The physical costs of pushing so hard to make it in this industry had left me with severe, chronic back and hip pain. I had already begun an attempt to get moving more by working with a personal trainer to learn boxing, but with fewer responsibilities I decided to start walking every day, and I took the time to work on my own mental health, getting that ADHD diagnosis.
At the same time, I was spending hours every day doing market research, talking to media companies, talking to funding groups, and the old Game Over team. I decided I couldn’t sit on the sidelines politically and just vote anymore either, and it was time to finally learn French.
In short order, I went from having more spare time than I’ve ever had, to digging in more in parenting, in my marriage, building a business plan, working on funding, volunteering for a political campaign, community organizing, and exercising every day. In order to build a better future, I first had to build a better me.
I have always prided myself on finding the patterns behind information. Whether it’s recognizing greatness or problems in hockey, seeing through the chaos politically, or seeing the trend in media in this country. The fact is, legacy media is dying. Broadcasts have become expensive gambling ads, people are being laid off left and right, and these organizations with all the money and power have no interest in building a product for anyone who isn’t male and over 45.
Together, the decision was made to re-launch Game Over independently, to build the next space that actually wants to engage with people. The idea is relatively simple: Platform young people and give them control over their voice, while engaging with local small businesses as advertisers so that our audience is served with advertising they’re actually interested in, and work with local independent media in every market to share audiences and lift each other up.
That’s where EOTP comes in. After three seasons in the basement, rebuilding the Canadiens from the failed Bergevin regime that could have given us so much more, our Habs are once again on the rise. Nick Suzuki, Cole Caufield, Juraj Slafkovský, Lane Hutson, and the rest of the team have ignited excitement in this city and fanbase that can be felt at an atomic level.
A big reason why Eyes On The Prize has been so successful is that we operated without fear. We were rebellious at our core, unsatisfied with the analysis we were given, so we strived to create better on our own, and created a titan. With the Canadiens ushering in a new era of competitive hockey, and legacy media once again failing to meet the moment, it is beyond clear that the future is independent, but not of each other.
So… I come back to you now, at the turn of the tide, to help build great things again.
