Schwartz: Long Island's Cohen Has 'Write' Stuff For EPIX Hockey Series
By Peter Schwartz
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Aaron Cohen grew up on Long Island as a fan of the Mets, Jets and Knicks. In an interview last year with Sports Illustrated, the veteran television sports writer didn't list the Islanders or Rangers for good reason. When it comes to hockey, the 38-year-old writer admits to once being a novice about the sport.
"I would probably put myself more in the camp of the casual hockey fan," Cohen told WFAN.com. "I'm not a total puck head. I work in a lot of different sports, and inevitably when I work on a new sport, I fall in love with it, and that happened with hockey."
It happened in 2011 when Cohen was forced to learn -- pardon the hockey term -- "on the fly" as he was tabbed to be the writer for HBO's "Road to the Winter Classic" series. When the series moved to EPIX in 2014, Executive Producer Ross Greenburg brought Cohen with him.
"We've done these shows before," said Cohen, a Harvard graduate. "I go back with Ross and a lot of people on the show to the HBO days."
But this year's four-week series has a different twist to it.
With the NHL adding the Centennial Classic between the Detroit Red Wings and Toronto Maple Leafs at BMO Field in Toronto on New Year's Day to go along with the Winter Classic that will pit the Chicago Blackhawks against the St. Louis Blues at Busch Stadium in St. Louis on Jan. 2nd, Cohen will write the behind-the-scenes story for both games on "Road to the NHL Outdoor Classics," which debuts Friday at 10 p.m.
"You always look for kind of a new challenge on any project, even if you've done it before," said Cohen, who has won multiple sports Emmys. " ... It's exciting and it creates a new creative template for us to say, 'How does this work and how does that change what we're trying to communicate?'"
In years past, Cohen and the rest of the team did a wonderful job providing all of the backstories of both teams in the weeks leading up to the Winter Classic. But this year, there are four teams to cover and that will have Cohen busy trying to balance the interest of all hockey fans that will be watching the show.
"Anytime you do a show, you're always wondering, who's watching this?" said Cohen.
In this case, he will have to write words for narrator Bill Camp that will cater to the hardcore hockey fan, the casual fan and the fans of the four teams that will take the game outdoors, to its roots, on back-to-back days.
"I love it," said Cohen, who has also worked on other terrific sports documentaries such as "Magic vs. Bird: Courtship of Rivals" and HBO's "24/7" boxing series while also writing the opening monologue for NBC's Olympic coverage.
"I think it's great. It's sort of heads-on to the kinds of things that we try to communicate in the writing and the storytelling of the show."
For hockey fans, the annual outdoor games are some of the marquee events on the NHL schedule. Thanks to Cohen's writing, the "Road to the NHL Outdoor Classics" series on EPIX, and formerly on HBO, has been the perfect appetizer to the main course. The series provides some wonderful inside looks at the players and coaches while also telling the story of what goes on behind the scenes.
Not bad for a guy who was once a hockey novice. So what it is now, Aaron -- Islanders or Rangers?
You can follow me on Twitter @pschwartzcbsfan. You can also follow @PinstripeBowl. You can also follow @EpixHD and #NHLOutdoors.
