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BROCK ORMOND 7th Season As Dukes Hockey TV Broadcaster By: Jeff Gard Total Sports Media
Brock Ormond learned from a young age that the hockey community is like a family.
“Growing up it was so fun having the players,” Ormond said. “They felt like the older brothers I never had. Stajan comes in at
That family has certainly grown over the years for him and he considers the Wellington Dukes to be a big reason for that. The 25-year-old is entering his seventh season as play-by-play announcer for Dukes broadcasts on HockeyTV and YourTV Quinte. He also writes game reports for the Ontario Junior Hockey League club.
16-years-old and turning 17 that year and he treated me just like I was his little brother.”
“I really enjoy the camaraderie and just being able to work as a team. The Dukes are so much like a family. There’s the same people that come out every single game. Seeing volunteers like Doug Robinson, Betty Masterson as well as Dave Wakefield and so many others, it feels like you’re part of a big family along with the team on the ice,” Ormond said. “It’s really outstanding that way.” Away from the rink, Brock is the only child to parents Lisa and Mark Ormond, but it never felt that way growing up. The family has billeted hockey players for so long that Ormond went from having “older brothers” to having “younger brothers.”
After the Bulls left town, the Ormonds billeted players from the Trenton Golden Hawks for a couple seasons and now have been do so for the Dukes ever since. The long tenure of billeting for family has enabled Brock to experience it in different ways. “I started out as a four-year-old and then growing up the guys started to get closer and closer to my age so then it ended up becoming like we were the same age and then by the time I got older there had players coming in that were younger than me so then I became kind of the defacto older brother to some guys,” Ormond said. “It was really neat to have that extra body or two or three in the house to really get to know and develop a good relationship with.” Those relationships sometimes continue once the player has moved on.
The Ormonds became a billet family for the Belleville Bulls in 2000 when Brock was just four and continued doing so until the club relocated to Hamilton in 2015. Matt Stajan, who went on to play over 1,000 NHL games, joined the family as a rookie with this Bulls as did Paulo Colaiacovo.
Chris Mifflen lived with the Ormonds during the 2007-08 season and was part of the Bulls team that advanced to the Memorial Cup.
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