Canisius University sports management students getting industry crash course at NHL Draft in Buffalo

Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN/WGR Sports Radio 550) - Around 20 students from Canisius University's sports management program will get hands-on experience in their field during next weekend's NHL Draft at KeyBank Center.

Both undergraduate and graduate students will help draftees find their way to the stage from the green room. They'll also help the prospects' families find their way around KeyBank Center on the biggest night of their loved one's life.

Dr. Shawn O'Rourke is dean of Canisius' Wehle Business School. He says it's a "wonderful opportunity" for students in the program he helped create.

"[They] get the behind the scenes look at what really goes on when the camera is off...they get to do these things behind the scenes and meet a great group of people in the NHL that run this draft, as well."

It's also an opportunity to get out of the classroom and into the field students want to have a career in.

"The classroom is great, but you can't beat experience," Dr. O'Rourke says. "It's not only the experience about what they're actually going to be doing with the draft, but it's the people that they meet and getting to expand their networks and develop these relationships that are going to help propel them to a career in the sport industry."

You can think of it as prospects working with prospects. On one hand, there's the prospects of the sports management world that will move on to careers working behind the curtain for a professional team. On the other hand, there's the prospects that teams hope will one day help win their team a Stanley Cup. That fact isn't lost on O'Rourke.

"These draftees, they're going to be looking for a 10-to-15-year career in the hockey world, and these students that have been schooled three, four, five years that are looking to get in the sport industry."

In addition to helping draftees and their families, students will also lend a hand to the media, and even work at an NHL Hall of Fame exhibit.

The NHL Draft begins Friday, June 26 at 7 p.m. at KeyBank Center. Rounds 2-7 begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 27.