NORSEMEN BRING IN FAMILIAR FACE FOR DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS

Aug 12, 2022

 

The St. Cloud Norsemen are bringing someone very familiar with the Granite City in as their Director of Operations.

 

Erick Zamora, who enrolled at St. Cloud State University in 2001, is coming in to be the face of the organization that moved to St. Cloud, Minnesota in 2019.

 

This will be Zamora’s first season in the North American Hockey League, but he is no stranger to the world of junior hockey.  He served as Media Relations and the play-by-play voice of the Des Moines Buccaneers of the United State Hockey League for four seasons.  He is coming to St. Cloud via Cedar Rapids, Iowa where he served as the Program Director of Newsradio 600 WMT and sports talk AM 800 KXIC, as well as the afternoon drive voice for 96.5 Kiss Country.

 

“My background may be in radio, but my passion is in sports, especially hockey,” Zamora admits.  “At times my family and friends have called it a borderline obsession but I spend as much time as I can following hockey either by playing, officiating, attending games in person, watching on TV or broadcasting the sport.”

 

While he may have always enjoyed watching the game, Erick truly fell in love hockey in the city of St. Cloud, so this is something of a homecoming for him.  “The first SCSU game I went to was a day after my 19th birthday,” Zamora recalls.  “The Huskies tallied seven goals in the second period, Mark Hartigan scored four of them, and from that point I was hooked.”  Erick was attending St. Cloud State at the time to become a teacher but eventually transferred to Brown College where he got his degree in Radio Broadcasting.

 

“We are pleased to welcome Erick to the Norsemen team,” says St. Cloud Norsemen owner Chris Canavati.  “We believe his experience, passion and love of the game will help us continue to build the Norsemen brand in St. Cloud and provide our fans an incredible gameday experience.”

 

The organization is going into their fourth season in St. Cloud and their third season as the Norsemen after being rebranded from the St. Cloud Blizzard, the same nickname the team had from their previous stints in Brookings, South Dakota and Alexandria, Minnesota.

 

Zamora is a huge fan of St. Cloud State hockey, travelling all over the country to attend games over the years, and he is excited to translate that fandom to build an exceptional fan experience for the Norsemen faithful.  “I know what it’s like to spend all week looking forward to games on Friday and Saturday night and I feel like a kid in a candy store with this opportunity to get the fans more involved with the organization and experiencing the most fun sporting events around.”  Erick was also a Des Moines Buccaneers season ticket holder before working for that franchise and is hoping to bring some of that excitement up north.  “The fans at Buccaneer Arena are thought of by some as the most passionate and boisterous in the USHL and I’m looking to cultivate that type of atmosphere and energy at the MAC,” explains Zamora.

 

The Norsemen season is fast approaching, with the regular season beginning at the 19th annual NAHL Showcase at the Super Rink in Blaine, Minnesota from Wednesday, September 14th through Saturday, September 17th.  St. Cloud is looking to defend their 2021-2022 Central Division regular season and postseason titles with divisional play beginning on Friday, September 23rd as they host the Austin Bruins for their home opener.

 

St. Cloud Norsemen on Social Media FACEBOOK | TWITTER | INSTAGRAM | TikTok

Subscribe to Norsemen News

* indicates required