Sam Woo: My Story Of Making New Jersey Devils PA Announcer Semi-Finals

On early Monday afternoon, I was on a business trip in Cleveland setting up a live streaming event for a client at a hotel. To be completely honest, it was a hectic day. I had been running on fumes after working several all-nighters to prepare for the event. There was chaos on the set when I found out the hotel didn’t give us Wifi in the ballroom. Panic started to ensue. Then, my phone started blowing up with text messages.

I had to ignore it because I had to deal with an overly concerned client. I mean, how do you live stream an event without the internet?

Then my wife texted me.

“Omg you’re in the top 10!!! Just checked.”

I couldn’t believe what I was reading. At that moment, I simply couldn’t contain my excitement and just showed my client my phone.

“Hey, I made it to the semi-finals!” I clicked on the link my wife had sent and he read it. You could see his face go from a frown to a smile and gave me a pat on the back.  I asked if I could excuse myself so I could talk to my wife.

“Go right ahead!”

Not only was I overly excited, but it got me out of that awkward tense situation as I raced back to my room to call my wife. Listening to her voice, my wife was in shock. I was in shock. We simply couldn’t believe it! Having that short conversation made my day and gave me a boost of energy like a Devils’ PSE&G Power Play!!!!

This was the distraction that I needed and the news came at the right time like a go-ahead goal late in the third period. At that moment, I had a big smile on my face for the rest of the day and rehearsing every scenario resembling a New Jersey Devils starting lineup in my head. For another week, the childhood dream is still alive and the journey continues!