Minnesota's winter high school sports postseason is well underway which means a busy time for those covering all the events.
Aside from the hockey and basketball semifinals and finals, hundreds of post season high school events can be found on NSPN.tv, the official streaming partner of the Minnesota State High School League.
"Anything that's on television, we're there," says NSPN's director of operations Ryan Phelps.
Phelps say streaming numbers remain strong, and that the NSPN platform works well for fanbases across the state who can't make it to the games, allowing them to follow their schools, and family members from afar.
"I'll get a handful of emails from local bars," Phelps explains. "'Hey, can we run, let's say the Hill Murray hockey game tonight. Do you mind if we put that on one of our TV screens?' Absolutely, would love it. And, you know, what does it cost you? Nothing. You get your $12 subscription. That's all. That's all you need to do. Just do that, run the game. We love it."
As winter sports wind down, it's an extremely busy time for those tasked with covering literally hundreds of postseason events across the state. Phelps says this time of year, the postseason sports events pack those hundreds of events into just a few short weeks.
"You know, to crew that and those are all at least two-person crews," Phelps explains. "That's the constant battle, is just finding good people, reliable, to get out there and do it. And then we've been very fortunate that we've got just a great stable of announcers and camera operators, producers, tech support, all of that stuff."
Aside from those marquee events like boys hockey and boys and girls basketball semifinal and championship games, every tournament game can be found on NSPN. That includes girls state hockey as well as gymnastics. That's because Hubbard-owned channel 45 has streaming rights through the High School League for the events you typically find on television.
"The confusion on between what's on ESPN, and what's on 45, we do get that a lot," Phelps adds. "I would say that the easiest answer is we have everything other than hockey and basketball. And we do have hockey and basketball, just not the championship round.
Events on NSPN are behind a paywall, but Phelps says the price is a one-time payment, providing access to hundreds of tournament games. You can find more information here.