From Team PR to Sportsnet to The Athletic, Ian Mendes Has Seen It All Around the Ottawa Senators

Ian Mendes and Chris Botta share something rare in common, having worked both in the PR departments of NHL teams and in the media. In this refreshingly open conversation, Ian tells us about his early start in PR with the Ottawa Senators and what it’s been like to cover the highs and lows of the franchise. Ian’s enthusiasm and positive spirit reverberate throughout the interview. Hockey fans of any team won’t want to miss it.

Episode Rundown:

· Ian is asked which NHL players and coaches were especially gracious with him when he started working in the NHL in the Senators’ PR department.

· His interpretation of GM Pierre Dorion’s comment that the “Senators’ rebuild is cover,” and what it’s been like to cover the young Sens the last few years

· Going from being a media peer of Pierre McGuire to having to cover him as the Senators’ first-year president of hockey operations, including asking at the opening press conference whether McGuire is inevitably Dorion’s successor

· Chris tells Ian about a long-ago video precursor to Hockey Press Pass that he shot at Greenwich Skating Club with Pierre McGuire, which was like Seinfeld’s “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” but with hockey

· What’s the toughest interview Ian has ever done?

· The balancing act of covering the NHL while “engaging in real change”

· Managing conflicts with players and team staff

· Looking back at Ottawa’s trade of Mark Stone to Vegas for a pick and prospect

· Ian turns the table and asks Chris if he would prepare the Islanders’ GMs for press conferences

· How did Ian’s experience out of college with the Sens’ PR department inform his media career?

· His decision to give up a career in TV in order to spend more time with his family

· Zdeno Chara’s career in Ottawa

· His expectations for the Senators in the near future

· The significant challenges of women and people of color covering hockey, and how he is determined to help

Host: Chris Botta

Executive Producer: Dani Rylan Kearney

Producer: Pat Boyle