Power play

A health issue sidelined Brennan Dowd.

Off and on for two and a half months, the SUNY Adirondack graduate and Glens Falls native was in the hospital and, while recuperating, he watched hockey on TV.

“I’ve loved hockey forever,” he said. “I started reading a book about an industry professional and it all clicked. I decided that once I had my health figured out, I wanted to go back to school.”

So Dowd, who earned a degree in Liberal Arts from SUNY Adirondack, returned to the college and earned a second associate degree, this time in Broadcast Media Production, in May 2021. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in TV-Video Production from SUNY Plattsburgh in December 2021.

While a student at Plattsburgh, Dowd was the play-by-play announcer for Cardinals hockey, a job for which he was recommended by a professor.

Today, he is a production assistant at the Saratoga Springs-based

Carr-Hughes Productions, a sports production company. On a part-time basis, he is the voice of Adirondack Thunder Junior, a newly established junior ice hockey team in the Eastern Hockey League Premier with home ice at Cool Insuring Arena, and does interviewing and social media work for Adirondack Thunder.

In some ways, the pandemic and ensuing shutdown — which hit his second semester at SUNY Adirondack — assisted Dowd long after he walked across the stage with diploma in hand.

“I wish I had gotten more involved the first time I was here,” he said. “Coming back, it all clicked into place, ‘Oh wait, that makes sense because of this.’ I immediately got involved in as many things as I could.”

Dowd said things didn’t go as he planned, but worked out better than he imagined. “I’m having a hard time figuring out how all these opportunities would have happened. If it weren’t for COVID, hockey wouldn’t have shut down, the SUNY Plattsburgh announcer might not have stepped away, I might not have built up experience at a TV station …”

All that led to SUNY Adirondack Professor Kevin Ankeny thinking of Dowd when Thunder Junior was looking for on-air talent.

“That’s twice now that a college professor has set me up with something very close to my dream job,” Dowd marveled.

SUNY Adirondack student majoring in Liberal Arts Humanities & Social Sciences, will graduate in May 2023 Will attend The College of Saint Rose to earn a bachelor’s degree in Social Studies: Adolescence Education with a concentration in History