The Hart of Hockey blog was founded in the fall of 2011 by Nick Hart. A retired high school hockey grinder and current beer league superstar, he originally started the blog in his freshman year of college at the off-hand recommendation of a professor. The blog has since become an integral part of his passion as a sports fanatic and future as a journalist. The Hart of Hockey is here to provide both casual and die-hard hockey fans with news, insight, and analysis of the many leagues and players in the game, hoping to capture the emotion that radiates from the greatest game on Earth. Every athlete is passionate about his or her sport, but nobody has a relationship with their game like hockey players and fans do.
Nick is a recent graduate of Ohio University where he studied broadcast journalism. He served as the play-by-play voice of Ohio Bobcats hockey in his senior year after spending time as a sports writer for the WOUB Bobcat Sports Showcase. He also appeared as a regular personality on the Green & White Review, a weekly sports radio talk show discussing Ohio athletics.
Nick grew up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, learning to love (and hate, *cough* Pirates) all professional Pittsburgh sports. He played hockey his entire life, spending his entire amateur career with the Southpointe Rink Rats and played varsity high school hockey at Bishop Canevin. Nick captured a Pennsylvania AA State Championship with Bishop Canevin in 2011, his senior year. It was his school's fourth state title, its first in over two decades.
Nick also worked with the Pittsburgh Penguins as a locker room attendant from 2007 to 2011, responsible for water boy, towel boy, and locker room duties in addition to any other errands that were asked to be taken care of by the team's equipment staff. He was a part of the Penguins' crushing defeat in the Stanley Cup Finals in 2008 as well as their triumph as Stanley Cup Champions in 2009.
