Wolf Pack Web Site In Top Tier
By PAUL ROSANO
This column ran in the Hartford Courant December 27, 1998
The Wolf
Pack may be in the minor leagues, but Hartford's AHL entry has
an independent Web site (wolfpackhockey.com)
devoted to it that is strictly major league.
Zac Champ, 15, a
Woodstock Academy student, has designed one of the best
independent Web sites not only for hockey but for any
professional sports team. It's clean, easy to navigate, highly
informative and dressed up with plenty of graphics, photos and
multimedia. The site rivals many NHL team sites, and since most
of those are of the cookie-cutter variety as offshoots of the
NHL (nhl.com), Wolf Pack Hockey
boasts originality and creativity lacking in those.
The home page is
set up in a day- by-day format with links that include stories,
columns, news items, box scores and photos. A navigation menu is
on the left of the screen with links to a variety of sections
from video interviews to Rants, Pack Forum, Stats and Rules of
the Game, among others.
Champ, of Pomfret,
was introduced to computers in kindergarten. His family bought
one when he was in the fifth grade, and about three years ago he
started toying around with HTML (hypertext markup language), the
computer language with which most graphically oriented sites on
the World Wide Web are designed.
``I know a little
HTML, enough to get by, but I rely on [Microsoft] FrontPage to
do the heavy work of tables and cells, etc.,'' Champ said.
``There would just be too much to do if I were coding all day.''
In fact, the site
can be quite time- consuming. The first version, ``Wolf Man
Zac's Hartford Wolf Pack Page'' took about a week to build,
following Champ's first visit to a Wolf Pack game at the Centrum
in Worcester. After three overhauls, he acquired a domain name
and secured Web space with a host server. After about six weeks,
the site was unveiled during the 1997 season, to Champ's
knowledge the first independent Wolf Pack site.
``Updates can
take anywhere from five minutes to five hours - it depends on
what I'm doing,'' Champ said. ``If I am just putting in tidbits
of news, I can be done with that in no time. If I am receiving
photos from my photographers, and just got back from a game,
that can take up an entire afternoon. Edit the pics, resize
them, type the article I wrote last night, post the pics,
digitize the interviews. It is a process that consumes a lot of
time but it seems to be worthwhile.''
One of the things
that makes Champ's site unique is the number of contributors he
has working with him.
Said Champ: ``The
site wouldn't work without them. It's why our site stands out
from many of the others. Funny enough they came to me, and
really were the sole reason for the latest version of the site.
Wolfpackhockey.com is for the fans by the fans.''
Champ's
collaborators include photographers Nikki Fox, Brian Goulet and
C.J. Higgins, who submit live game photos; graphics designer and
co-WebmasterJason Gillen; editor of the Wolf Pack newsletter and
columnist Bill Keeny and columnists Kevin Columbo and Chris Gib
bons. Champ also edits and writes.
``It is all
volunteer. Many come to me as a venue for showcasing their work
and getting noticed and possibly getting work,'' Champ said.
``It's a fun experience for the average fan to have a place to
talk - like in the Pack Forum you say one thing and another
person may totally disagree with you.''
Though Champ
doesn't earn extra school credits for the site, his effort has
earned him a credential in the Wolf Pack's press box, something
few independent site owners can boast. And it's one of the
things that makes all the work worthwhile.
``The experience
of being up in the press box with other writers, and going into
the locker room and interviewing the players and coaches is
enough for now,'' Champ said.
Comments from the
Journal Inquirer
"Mercury Design's work on
www.wolfpackhockey.com is clear and consise. In my job as a team beat writer, I need fast information and Mercury Design's website makes that possible."
Ken House
Journal Inquirer Staff Writer
Journal Inquirer
Comments from the
NHLFA
"In scanning the Wolf Pack site, I have been impressed by
the breadth of information available in what is a very
professional-looking Web site. An excellent stop for anyone
interested in hockey in general and in the AHL in
particular."
Jim Spendlove
Co-founder
NHLFA (National Hockey League
Fans' Association
