Katie Gaus grew up in a hockey family, and as a girl in Pittsburgh, she developed a passion and love for the sport.
Although there were no all-girls teams at the time, she nevertheless spent countless days lacing up her skates and hitting the ice at a local rink.
“I was about 3 or 4 years old when I first started skating, and at 6 or 7, I was playing with boys on an in-house team called the Pittsburgh Wildcats,” said Gaus, who also enjoyed fun times in the summer playing on a 3-on-3 hockey team with her younger brother.
Gaus, who now lives in Sunrise, remains involved in hockey, and has seen her career take off in a big way as the National Hockey League Florida Panthers’ digital reporter and the Fox Sports Florida television network’s sideline reporter.
She has reached even greater heights, however, after being recently selected as the color commentator/analyst on the Twitch TV international stream of this weekend’s National Women’s Hockey League Isobel Cup championship playoffs.
She will join fellow broadcaster Josh Appel in calling the action during the worldwide Twitch telecasts. The postseason tournament will also be broadcast nationally on NBC Sports.
“Doing (NWHL) games is really special and exciting for me, and even more significantly to be a part of the growth of women’s professional hockey,” Gaus said. “I am thrilled. I’m just really happy that it’s happening at all.”
Happening at all, as she aptly points out, because back in late January/early February during regular-season play while in a “bubble” in Lake Placid, New York, the NWHL had to shut itself down due to a COVID-19 outbreak. The season suspension came just days before the start of the playoffs.
Gaus was also involved in several of those telecasts along with Florida Panthers’ broadcaster Steve Goldstein, who recommended Gaus for the Isobel Cup role.
“It was unfortunate because more and more fans were tuning into the games, and there was a genuine excitement building for the playoffs,” Gaus said. “We knew something bad was brewing as the pandemic kind of spread within some of the teams.”
But earlier this month, the women athletes were ecstatic to hear that their season would resume as the health issues ended and NBC Sports and Twitch TV came back on board for the resumption of the competition.
The NWHL playoffs — featuring the Toronto Six, Connecticut Whale, Minnesota Whitecaps and Boston Pride — take place at Warrior Ice Arena just outside of Boston March 26-27. Semifinals are at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. Friday, and the championship game is at 7 p.m. Saturday.
As part of her responsibilities on the international stream of the Twitch TV internet broadcasts, Gaus will share storylines and delve into the players’ backgrounds as they do battle on the ice. Her discoveries have run the gamut of fascinating insights.
“One of the women on the Pride, Mallory Souliotis, is a COVID-19 researcher at a laboratory in Boston. She’s literally studying the virus as a scientist; that’s absolutely incredible,” said Gaus, who noted that also among players in the NWHL are teachers, therapists, nurses, first responders and police officers.
“The stories of what these athletes do on a daily basis is just awesome,” she said. “The fact that they are able to have these insanely amazing careers and also play hockey at a high level is truly inspirational.”
As the sideline reporter during Florida Panthers’ home games, Gaus is a familiar face on Fox Sports Florida as she interviews a standout player after each period, and later joins the pool of reporters during the Zoom question-and-answer interviews.
Residing just a short distance from the BB&T Center in Sunrise, Gaus is living her dream as she spends a great deal of time inside the arena.
Adelyn Biedenbach, senior director of communications for the Florida Panthers Hockey Club, said she is looking forward with great pride and anticipation to Gaus’ upcoming role in the NWHL playoff coverage.
“She’s such a hard worker. She knows hockey and is a great role model to young women who want to work in sports broadcasting,” said Biedenbach, who like Gaus grew up in Pittsburgh. “She is such a valuable asset to our (Panthers organization) team, so (this NWHL role) is so great to see; we couldn’t be more proud of her.”
Hockey is deeply entrenched in Gaus’ lifestyle, and that was never more evident than during her high school days at Vincentian Academy.
“I actually switched to field hockey because my high school didn’t have ice hockey,” Gaus said. “One way or another I was determined to be involved in the sport whether it was ice or field (hockey).”
After graduating from Vincentian Academy, Gaus completed her undergraduate studies at SUNY Geneseo before moving on to Newhouse School at Syracuse University where she earned her master’s degree.
Her involvement in the NWHL playoffs is noteworthy as it comes during March, when gender equality and women’s history are taking the spotlight globally. The month has been a continual celebration of women and their empowerment into becoming future leaders.
“For pro women’s hockey in general, whether it be the NWHL or the PWHPA (Professional Women’s Hockey Players Association), there is so much talent and now it’s a matter of the exposure increasing and bringing with it more sponsorships and ownership groups,” Gaus said. “This is so wonderful on so many levels.”
On Twitch telecasts, there is a chat room to the right of the game action that gives viewers the opportunity to chime in with instant comments throughout the games.
This unique interaction is something Gaus said she feels might be the future of fan involvement.
“I’ve never experienced anything like that (chat) in sports,” she said. “People are in real-time, complimenting the broadcasters, complimenting the players, even complimenting the Zamboni driver. It’s just incredible; the comments are all coming at lightning speed. It’s so much fun.”
It’s been quite the learning curve for Gaus, who quickly became hooked but also quickly found out that there was lots of hard work and preparation ahead.
“I think I spent like three weeks every morning to night scouring (internet sites) and creating notes for every player on every roster,” she said. “Where did they come from, what’s their background, what are their professions outside of hockey … everything that the viewers would find interesting.”
That type of passionate work ethic and commitment doesn’t surprise Biedenbach, who sees that not only in Gaus’ efforts but also in everyone associated with the Florida Panthers’ organization.
“Putting in those hours to be able to tell her unique stories … and finding those nuggets are definitely a hallmark of Katie’s work,” Biedenbach said. “Details matter to us, the research matters to us and Katie and our entire Panthers’ team provide that level of commitment.”
All that homework and preparation, which continues for Gaus as the NWHL playoffs draw near, has led her to finding many similarities in the lives of the women athletes.
“The unique thing about the NWHL is that there are so many connections between and among the players in terms of their involvement on the same teams growing up, having played with or against one another in college, and even played on the same national programs or in the Olympics,” Gaus said.
During the regular-season competition in Lake Placid and now for the Isobel Cup playoffs, the Panthers have “adopted” the Connecticut Whale franchise as a show of support.
“I think that’s amazing … so many NHL teams have done that and it really means a lot to the women on the NWHL teams,” Gaus said. “With (Panthers’ head coach Joel Quenneville) being a former member of the Hartford Whalers, our adoption of the Whale fit right in.”
Over the course of the 15 regular-season games in Lake Placid, the NWHL received 1.62 million live look-ins on Twitch. One of the last games before the shutdown — a matchup between last season’s finalists Boston and Minnesota — drew 32,000 viewers.
“I am so looking forward to being a part of this great culmination to the NWHL season,” Gaus said. “I applaud these women and I’m just so glad they get to finish what they started.”
