Webmasters give EHL pro look

Jeff Nygaard handles the administrative duties and Neil Ravin the content creation for junior hockey league site

Webmaster of the Week: October 5-11

Names:
Jeff Nygaard and Neil Ravin

Site:
Eastern Hockey League

Position:
Nygaard serves as the EHL’s executive director; Ravin is the league’s director of public relations and social media

Background:
A Fergus Falls, Minnesota, native, Nygaard graduated from North Dakota State University with a degree in mass communications and media studies. He served as the sports information director at the University of North Dakota and has worked more than 300 minor professional games as an on-ice official. He was director of hockey operations for the Atlantic Junior Hockey League before it added six former Eastern Junior Hockey League franchises in 2013 and changed its name to the Eastern Hockey League. Ravin, in his first season with the EHL, is a Maine native and graduate of Quinnipiac University, where he earned a degree in broadcast journalism. He has worked for the Portland Pirates (minor league hockey franchise), Portland Sea Dogs (minor league baseball franchise) and the Hockey East Association.

What they do:
Nygaard, who has vast experience working with numerous online platforms geared for sports organizations, handled much of the setup, design and initial administration of the EHL site, which launched on the Sport Ngin platform on May 1. Once individual player information for each EHL team was gathered through online registration, he helped load that info onto the teams’ roster pages, saving hours of data entry work. He also helped organize and load the league’s master schedule and helps publish any schedule changes. Ravin, meanwhile, handles the bulk of the league’s content creation and social media management. He has written several features on current players, compiled links to stories about current and past players and regularly posts league news articles related to scheduling and college commitments, among other topics. Ravin posted previews of the league’s 18 Premier Division teams in 18 days leading up to the start of the season, including a story about former Philadelphia Flyers star Keith Primeau’s journey from the NHL to EHL head coach (Philadelphia Revolution).

Making their mark:
Nygaard said he set up the site’s infrastructure with the overriding thought that, on the homepage, “My mom could figure out (the navigation) in a couple of minutes.” He also built out the site’s history section that includes the various franchises that have been affiliated with the league. Ravin has done a good job identifying and posting league-related video, including the inside look at the Philadelphia Revolution that is posted on the EHL’s homepage.