PHF Introduces Broadcast Team to Start 2022-23 Season
November 4, 2022 – Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) News Release
BOSTON, MA – – The Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) has announced its national broadcast team which includes a roster of 15 play-by-play announcers and analysts to open the 2022-23 regular season. The talented crew will be the voices of all live PHF coverage streaming exclusively for fans in the United States on ESPN+ and through ESPN’s international distribution network which includes TSN in Canada. The opening weekend of the 2022-23 PHF season is November 5-6 with all seven teams in action, launching a schedule that includes a record 84 games, special events, and Isobel Cup Playoffs.
Returning to call the play this season are the familiar voices of Josh Eastern, Sam Fryman, Phil Giubileo, Steve Goldstein, Joe Malfa, Kelly Schultz, and Josh Tolle. Newcomers David Gascon and Maura Sheridan bring the action to life for fans in their first PHF season. Sheridan and Schultz will also serve as analysts alongside veterans Erica Ayala, Katie Gaus, Kaylyn Kyle, and Alexis Pearson, plus newcomer Carson Duggan, and Paige Capistran who will make her PHF debut behind the microphone but is no stranger to the league following two seasons as a defender with the Boston Pride.
“We’re excited to drop the puck with a talented team who embrace the opportunity to help grow the game through their storytelling that will showcase the PHF and these amazing athletes to a global audience,” said Jim Pfeifer, PHF Chief Marketing Officer. “The PHF’s expanded schedule and ESPN’s continued commitment to champion the league has truly raised the bar for live media coverage of professional women’s hockey. We are grateful for the leadership of Michael Cohen, PHF Executive Media Consultant, and support of our production team at VISTA Worldlink, and the passion and dedication of our PHF announcers.”
In October 2021 the PHF announced an agreement making ESPN+ its exclusive home in the United States for the entire 2021-22 season. Last year culminated with the network’s first ever linear broadcast of professional women’s hockey with the championship final airing live on ESPN2 and TSN2. The agreement was extended for the 2022-23 and 2023-24 seasons. For the third straight season, all games are produced by VISTA Worldlink with a team led by Vice President and Executive Producer Mike Freedman.
2022-23 PHF Broadcast Team:
Erica L. Ayala (@elindsay08)
Erica is entering her seventh season broadcasting women’s hockey for the PHF. She called her first NHL game on March 8, 2022, for New Jersey Devils Radio alongside PHF broadcaster Kelly J. Schultz. She is a multimedia journalist who traveled to Beijing, China to cover the women’s and men’s ice hockey tournaments at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Her writing has appeared in The New York Times, Forbes, Sports Illustrated, Bleacher Report, The Athletic, espnW, and more. In addition, Erica is the host of Locked on Kraken, a daily podcast covering the Seattle Kraken.
Josh Eastern (@JoshEastern)
Josh is entering his third season as a play-by-play broadcaster in the PHF. Last season he called games during the regular season and playoffs along with the All-Star Showcase and hosting the Isobel Cup Final pregame show. In addition to his work in the PHF, Josh also serves as a play-by-play announcer for the United Soccer League, National Women’s Soccer League, Concacaf, and more. He grew up in the Seattle area and is a 2019 graduate of Indiana University.
Paige Capistran (@paige_cap21)
Born and raised in Manchester, NH, Paige played four years at Northeastern University from 2016-20 where she was a three-time Hockey East Champion, and she captained the Huskies through their winningest season in program history that included a Beanpot title in 2020. She was selected by the Pride in the fifth round of the 2020 draft, and went on to capture back-to-back Isobel Cup titles in 2021 and 2022. She has experience as a Hockey East rinkside reporter, and as an assistant content producer for NESN.
Carson Duggan (@cdduggan12)
Carson is no stranger to the world of hockey as both a player and a coach. Her playing career included four years at St. Lawrence University where she remains the program’s all-time leading goal scorer, and professional experience overseas winning a championship with HC Slavia Praha. She later jumped behind the bench and served as the head coach at Trinity College, and held assistant coach roles at the University of Connecticut and Ohio State University. Making the transition to the broadcast booth, Carson has called games for Northeastern University, NESN, and ESPN+.
Sam Fryman (@sfryman20)
Sam is entering his fifth season covering the PHF. He began his women’s hockey career as the voice of the Boston Pride in 2018 and has broadcast for the league ever since, including the 2020 All-Star Game as a rink-side analyst. Sam has also previously called games for the Bridgeport Islanders (AHL), Adirondack Thunder (ECHL), Fayetteville Marksmen (SPHL), and the University of Pennsylvania women’s team. He is a proud graduate of Temple University and is a diehard Philly sports and auto racing fan.
David Gascon (@DavidJGascon)
Evolving with the current media trends, David has performed as a versatile sportscaster on multiple platforms. He continues to showcase his play-by-play abilities on FS1 and ESPN calling a wide variety of sports ranging from NCAA basketball, football, soccer, hockey, and baseball. Adding to his TV commitments, David has mixed in radio play-by-play coverage for Learfield IMG College during the collegiate basketball and baseball seasons. On an international level, he flexes his range by commentating for the European League of Football, Champions Hockey League, and the International Ski Federation. In the digital world, David provides sports gambling insight as a host and contributor for Pickswise and VSiN. The Los Angeles native earned his master’s degree from Northeastern University and bachelor’s from San Diego State University.
Katie Gaus (@katie_gaus)
Katie is currently with AltitudeTV working as a Host/Reporter covering the NHL’s Colorado Avalanche. She spent three seasons with the NHL’s Florida Panthers, working as a digital reporter and Bally Sports Florida in-game reporter for television broadcasts. In addition to her work in the NHL, she also spent the last two seasons working as a color analyst for the PHF, covering women’s hockey which she grew up playing in her hometown of Pittsburgh, PA. Before making the jump to the NHL, Katie served as the United States Hockey League’s Media and Communications Coordinator, and worked in local broadcast television as the weekend sports anchor for WICU12, an NBC affiliate station in Erie, PA where she was the first ever female sports anchor in the market. Katie graduated from SUNY Geneseo with a Bachelor’s in Communication and obtained her Master’s degree from the Newhouse School of Communication at Syracuse University.
Phil Giubileo (@philgpbp)
Phil is a longtime hockey broadcaster who rejoins the PHF after previously calling games for the league during their first five seasons, including play-by-play of the first three Isobel Cup finals. In addition to his work with the PHF, he is the play-by-play announcer for the Quinnipiac University Women’s and Men’s programs, also on ESPN+. Before working with the PHF and Quinnipiac, Phil spent nine seasons in the AHL for the Bridgeport Sound Tigers, where he also filled-in for the NHL parent club New York Islanders on their radio broadcasts.
Steve Goldstein (@goldieonice)
Steve is a sports broadcasting veteran nationally and in the South Florida market where he is the longtime hockey voice of the NHL’s Florida Panthers now in his 16th season as a TV play-by-play announcer. The 2019 NSMA Sportscaster of the Year, Florida, ‘Goldie’ also calls the NFL’s Miami Dolphins for preseason games on CBS Miami, is an international and domestic tennis play-by-play voice for the US Open and other events for the USTA and Tennis Channel, and anchors news and sports on CBS 4 Miami. His extensive experience also includes coverage of the Stanley Cup Final and several Winter Olympic Games. This is his third season calling PHF action.
Kaylyn Kyle (@KaylynKyle)
Kaylyn is a former NWSL and Canadian international soccer player who has represented her country over 100 times. She’s competed in two women’s World Cups and won bronze at the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London. She began her broadcasting career with TSN in 2017 after retiring from soccer, and is a studio host on a variety of platforms including beIN Sports and FuboTV. She’s no stranger to the hockey rink growing up in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan with a father who played professional hockey.
Joe Malfa (@MalfaJ98)
Two things were clear to Joe’s family when he was a kid: 1) he loved sports and 2) he would never stop talking. With that being said, as Joe got older he decided he should combine the two. He went to the University of Maryland to study broadcast journalism, graduated a proud Terp in December of 2019, and has been calling games professionally ever since. This will be his second season calling PHF games.
Alexis Pearson (@alexismirjana)
Alexis is in her fifth season of professional hockey coverage working for both the Minnesota Wild Radio Network and the PHF over the course of those seasons. She graduated from St. Cloud State University in 2019 with degrees in both Broadcast Journalism and English. Having been born and raised in the State of Hockey, Alexis grew up just south of the Twin Cities. It was only a matter of time before she made a career out of working in the hockey world. When she’s not covering hockey games for work she’s watching hockey at home or with her dad who she has to thank for introducing her to sports where her love for hockey would drive her to pursue a career broadcasting games.
Kelly Schultz (@kellyschultz)
Kelly is currently the radio play-by-play announcer for Bemidji State University DI women’s hockey, serving in her 15th season as the “Voice of the Beavers”. In 2018, she became the play-by-play announcer for the Minnesota Whitecaps during their inaugural Isobel Cup winning season, and has also been on the call for the 2019 and 2020 NWHL All-Star Games. She got her first taste of professional women’s hockey as the Rinkside Reporter for the 2018 NWHL All-Star Game in her hometown of St. Paul. Kelly recently called the inaugural season of MN Aurora FC of the USL W League, and did play-by-play for the NHL’s New Jersey Devils digital broadcast on International Women’s Day. In 2019 she was the Kwame McDonald Media Award winner issued by the Minnesota Coalition of Women in Athletic Leadership.
Maura Sheridan (@MauraSheridan)
Maura calls NWSL games on CBS platforms and college sports on ESPN, and is also the former voice of the University of Vermont men’s hockey and women’s basketball. She is a 2018 graduate of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University with a Bachelor of Science, Broadcast, and Digital Journalism.
Josh Tolle (@JoshTolle7)
Josh is a multitalented broadcaster with play-by-play experience at the professional and collegiate levels. He is thrilled to be back calling games with the PHF for his second season. He has called hockey at various levels and for three seasons was the play-by-play voice for the Superior RoughRiders of the Western Hockey League. In 2018, he began calling games for the National Women’s Soccer League. He has also called games for the United Soccer League, Concacaf, and the U.S. Open Cup. He has provided play-by-play for various other sports including football, basketball, baseball, and volleyball. Since 2015 he has been the voice of Colorado School of Mines Athletics.
Fans can sign up for ESPN+ for just $9.99 a month (or $99.99 per year) at ESPN.com, ESPNplus.com or on the ESPN App (mobile and connected devices). In Canada, live coverage of the PHF is available to TSN subscribers through the network’s five television feeds as well as live streaming via TSN.ca and the TSN app. PHF games that are part of the ESPN International distribution network may be available in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa via ESPN Player, in Latin America via Star+, the Caribbean through ESPN Player via the ESPN App, and Oceania through Watch ESPN via the ESPN App. Click here for the full PHF regular season schedule.
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