Calling Card: Max Anderson Brings Years of Passion Broadcasting Illinois High School Hockey
By Ross Forman
Max Anderson arrived to broadcast his first Scholastic Hockey League game in October 2016 with experience behind the microphone, but none on the ice playing or even broadcasting hockey.
He was nervous. “The speed of (hockey) compared to football, basketball and baseball, which is what I’d (broadcast) for the most part, was intimidating. But I got used to it quickly,” he said. “Play-by-play (broadcasting) is a mechanic, and once you have enough sport knowledge to translate into description, the rest is a skill like any other that gets better with time and reps.”
A decade of games later, Anderson is the perfect voice for Illinois high school hockey broadcasts. He has been the SHL Network lead play-by-play announcer since 2016. His resume also included DePaul club hockey (2021-2023) and the AHAI state championships since 2021.
“I was graduating college after doing sports media work, including (sports) play-by-play throughout my four years. I got in contact with Evan Poulakidas, who was looking to take (SHL) streams of a ‘Game of the Week’ to the next level. It was the perfect opportunity to keep my broadcasting dreams alive while I entered the corporate world.”
Anderson has been on the call for countless noteworthy Illinois games over the past decade, involving all the state powers – New Trier Green, Loyola Gold, Saint Viator, Glenbrook North, Glenbrook South and so many others.
“I switch between thinking that first season (broadcasting Illinois high school hockey) was forever ago, and (just) last week,” he said. “The reality has been a ton of hard work, long hours at cold rinks, and a lot of asking people for more money to improve what we do.
“I’m so proud of what Jimmy Olson and I have developed over the last decade but the reality is, I would really put it a three-way split: 1/3 Jimmy, 1/3 me and 1/3 the community. We wouldn’t be close to where we are with the state of the broadcasts without unbelievable financial support, but also all the people along the way who have chipped in, whether that’s broadcasters who were with us for years or a cameraman who filled in for one game.”
Anderson, a senior solutions consultant at Appian, played baseball and football through high school. Now his world is hockey, seemingly 24,7.
“Even after 10 years, a big game in a small barn still gets the adrenaline going,” he said. “We used to talk about the butterflies in your stomach that you’d get as a football player at 2 p.m. on a Friday before a 7:30 high school game. It’s (an) indescribable (feeling), but I think anyone who has played competitive sports knows that feeling. I still get that for a big game I’m broadcasting. I’ve always told myself if I don’t get that feeling anymore, it might be time to move on. Fortunately, it still happens several times a season.”
Anderson’s broadcast career has included calling a Big 10 Championship basketball games at Banker’s Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis; and detailing Chicago Fire action at Soldier Field.
This past hockey season, Anderson recalls standing next to the Chicago Wolves play-by-play announcer Jason Shaver for the red division varsity championship game and sitting in his chair because Anderson was doing the play-by-play that night.
“I remember the first New Trier Green vs. Loyola Gold game that I broadcast and was blown away by the intensity and the atmosphere,” Anderson said. “I didn’t grow up in hockey culture in Illinois, so I had no idea what to expect. Calling state championship games was my goal from the time I started and fulfilling that was a huge personal milestone as well.”
Anderson said the changes he’s witnessed in the high school game, particularly in the SHL, are numerous. Parity, for sure, is there. “The gap between the best and worst team in the league seems to get tighter by the year,” he said. Also, the SHL’s ever-expanding media operation. “The game of the week is just a small part of the overall media strategy the league has put together. I’ve said it several times, this isn’t normal or typical for a high school hockey league. This more closely mirrors what you’d see in major college programs or even mid-minors’ programs. Social media engagement, The Scholastic Sitdown podcast, the website, and in the last couple of years, the individual programs that have put broadcast operations together for their clubs.
“The commitment to what’s best for the athlete (stands out in the SHL). At the center of every decision that I’m around when it comes to the SHL, the question that gets posed is ‘What’s best for the teams/players?’ If the players/club stay at the center of every decision, the SHL has even more runway to grow.”
AWAY FROM THE RINK
The just-released coming-of-age movie “An Autumn Summer” features lead actress Lukita Maxwell who also played Alice in Apple TV’s hit show “Shrinking.”
Anderson has a role in An Autum Summer – both on-camera and behind-the-scenes as an associate producer. He is an extra in two scenes.
“My best family-friend growing up is a writer/director and he came to me in the summer of 2020 with a script he wrote and wanted to bring it to life. I decided to sign on as a producer because I loved the script and the story so much,” Anderson said. “It’s a coming-of-age love story, but not your typical falling in love ... fight ... make up ... live happily ever after kind of story. It really puts you back into those precious moments at the end of your adolescence, those final days before your world completely changes going off to college or whatever path your post-high school life would take. You’ve had this group that you’ve become so close to growing up and the slow realization that no matter what, things will change by the end of that summer. It looks at a first love differently than any movie I’ve ever seen. We’re all so used to that basic story arc and then when we see the actual reality of real life, it’s maybe one percent of the time it’s that idyllic scene; the rest of us live in that 99 percent of confusion, heartache, stress, love, fight, fun and every other emotion involved in a young love. This movie challenges you to wrestle with those feelings that anyone who ever has been in love has had to wrestle with and in the case of this movie, in the breathtaking settings of northern Michigan in the summertime.”
“An Autumn Summer” is available on Apple TV, Amazon Prime and Fandango.
“It may be hard to see how this movie would apply to high school hockey, but the more I think about it, it’s directly in line,” he said. “Think about the seniors every year. Many of them have probably played, bled, sweated and cried together over the last 10-plus years. And that senior hockey season is your last run together. No matter what, your high school season will end and those relationships will never be the same. But living in those moments, knowing college, juniors, (internships) or whatever is to come will come. But those moments are something that lasts a lifetime ... so make sure you savor them. Those good times will never be the same.”
On The Mic With … Play-By-Play Announcer Max Anderson
Top 5 Forwards You’ve Watched in Illinois High School Hockey:
Zack Freimuth, Glenbrook South
Davis Jegers, Stevenson
Tommy Cahill, New Trier Green
Tiernan Ryan, Saint Ignatius
Jack Gustafson, Loyola Gold
Top 4 Defensemen You’ve Watched in Illinois High School Hockey:
Ryan Cowan, Loyola Academy
David Wilcox, Glenbrook North
Nolan Jones, Stevenson
Brian Dolby, New Trier Green
Top 4 Goalies You’ve Watched in Illinois High School Hockey:
Adam Kaczmarek, York
Michael Reyderman, Glenbrook North
Drew Durdov, New Trier Green
Lucas Winger, Glenbrook South
Favorite Illinois High School Jersey: “You’re just trying to get me in trouble (with this question) … I’m a sucker for any of Iggy’s variations. I also love Viator’s Penn State-imitation look.”
Favorite Local Rink to Announce A Game At: “Northbrook, and no other is close. No netting, right on top of the action, right in the center, plenty of setup space, we have hardline internet so that was the first rink Jimmy could deploy all new features and toys.”