talkingcanes
01-09-2004, 06:36 PM
Hockey meets the reality show craze :eek:
'Bachelorette' new competition for Hersh
By Mark Simon | Special to NHL.com
January 9, 2004
The whirlwind lifestyle of eight years of professional hockey is in the past for Harold Hersh. Now, his goal is to relax and enjoy a more normal life. Hersh got to experience a different kind of excitement recently and the result will be on display for all to see.
Hersh will appear as a contestant on ABC's hit reality show The Bachelorette. The second season will debut Wednesday, Jan. 14 at 9 p.m ET. Hersh competed with 24 other bachelors for the affections of 30-year-old Meredith Phillips, a makeup artist from Portland, Ore.
Over the series' 10-week run, Phillips will date the men both individually and in group settings, introduce them to her family and travel to their hometowns to find the one with which she is most compatible. The first season of The Bachelorette garnered much national attention and concluded with the wedding of Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter on national television.
Hersh is used to the hockey spotlight, having played forward in the ECHL for two seasons, netting 37 goals and 90 points in 114 games with the Johnstown Chiefs (1997-98) and Pensacola Ice Pilots (1999-2000). He returned to his native Quebec after spending last season in Germany and plays part-time in the Quebec Senior Hockey League with other semi-retired players.
Among Hersh's career highlights were scoring the championship-winning goal in overtime for the Hull Olympiques in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League finals, being named captain of the Ice Pilots, and winning a UHL championship with the Quad City Mallards in 2001.
Hersh, who stands 6-foot-1, 195 pounds, played 226 AHL games split between five teams and was primarily utilized there as a checking forward against other team's top lines. Hersh's final season in Germany was one of his best, as he got to play and travel throughout Europe to Italy, Austria and France. Off the ice, he was active in community work, and is presently raising money for the Peter Assaley Memorial Fund for cancer research through t-shirt sales. His hobbies include sailing and cooking.
Numbers on a hockey score sheet probably won't impress Meredith too much. The chance for compatibility with the 29-year-old Hersh may lie in their similar desires for long-term love.
"It's hard to maintain a steady relationship with a hockey lifestyle," said Hersh, who may pursue a career in pharmaceutical sales. "I'm at the stage of my life where I want to find a job and start a family."
Hersh was used primarily as a checking forward during his various stints in the minors.
Hersh was chosen to be on the show after a lengthy selection process. A friend, Jo Mason of Rock Island, Ill, had started a website for Hersh (http://members.tripod.com/haroldhersh) during his time with the Mallards and submitted an application on his behalf for the companion show, The Bachelor. The rules at the time didn't allow non-U.S. citizens to compete, but since then, ABC modified the requirements and e-mailed Hersh asking him to submit a video for potential inclusion in this edition of the show. He filled the three minutes, mixing footage of him playing hockey and golf with an explanation of why he would make the perfect bachelor. That, along with a series of interviews as part of the screening process, helped him earn an invitation to Los Angeles last year.
Hersh can't reveal much regarding the results, or how things went on the show, for which taping is concluded, but said it was one of the best times he's had.
"It was a great experience," Hersh said. "Meredith is a great, great girl and I met a lot of great guys too. It was also really interesting to see how the show was produced. You watch all these reality shows on TV and it's amazing how big they are. I was lucky to play eight years of pro hockey and now I'm going to get to be watched on TV by 35 million people."
'Bachelorette' new competition for Hersh
By Mark Simon | Special to NHL.com
January 9, 2004
The whirlwind lifestyle of eight years of professional hockey is in the past for Harold Hersh. Now, his goal is to relax and enjoy a more normal life. Hersh got to experience a different kind of excitement recently and the result will be on display for all to see.
Hersh will appear as a contestant on ABC's hit reality show The Bachelorette. The second season will debut Wednesday, Jan. 14 at 9 p.m ET. Hersh competed with 24 other bachelors for the affections of 30-year-old Meredith Phillips, a makeup artist from Portland, Ore.
Over the series' 10-week run, Phillips will date the men both individually and in group settings, introduce them to her family and travel to their hometowns to find the one with which she is most compatible. The first season of The Bachelorette garnered much national attention and concluded with the wedding of Trista Rehn and Ryan Sutter on national television.
Hersh is used to the hockey spotlight, having played forward in the ECHL for two seasons, netting 37 goals and 90 points in 114 games with the Johnstown Chiefs (1997-98) and Pensacola Ice Pilots (1999-2000). He returned to his native Quebec after spending last season in Germany and plays part-time in the Quebec Senior Hockey League with other semi-retired players.
Among Hersh's career highlights were scoring the championship-winning goal in overtime for the Hull Olympiques in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League finals, being named captain of the Ice Pilots, and winning a UHL championship with the Quad City Mallards in 2001.
Hersh, who stands 6-foot-1, 195 pounds, played 226 AHL games split between five teams and was primarily utilized there as a checking forward against other team's top lines. Hersh's final season in Germany was one of his best, as he got to play and travel throughout Europe to Italy, Austria and France. Off the ice, he was active in community work, and is presently raising money for the Peter Assaley Memorial Fund for cancer research through t-shirt sales. His hobbies include sailing and cooking.
Numbers on a hockey score sheet probably won't impress Meredith too much. The chance for compatibility with the 29-year-old Hersh may lie in their similar desires for long-term love.
"It's hard to maintain a steady relationship with a hockey lifestyle," said Hersh, who may pursue a career in pharmaceutical sales. "I'm at the stage of my life where I want to find a job and start a family."
Hersh was used primarily as a checking forward during his various stints in the minors.
Hersh was chosen to be on the show after a lengthy selection process. A friend, Jo Mason of Rock Island, Ill, had started a website for Hersh (http://members.tripod.com/haroldhersh) during his time with the Mallards and submitted an application on his behalf for the companion show, The Bachelor. The rules at the time didn't allow non-U.S. citizens to compete, but since then, ABC modified the requirements and e-mailed Hersh asking him to submit a video for potential inclusion in this edition of the show. He filled the three minutes, mixing footage of him playing hockey and golf with an explanation of why he would make the perfect bachelor. That, along with a series of interviews as part of the screening process, helped him earn an invitation to Los Angeles last year.
Hersh can't reveal much regarding the results, or how things went on the show, for which taping is concluded, but said it was one of the best times he's had.
"It was a great experience," Hersh said. "Meredith is a great, great girl and I met a lot of great guys too. It was also really interesting to see how the show was produced. You watch all these reality shows on TV and it's amazing how big they are. I was lucky to play eight years of pro hockey and now I'm going to get to be watched on TV by 35 million people."