WINONA, Minn. — Chicago Blackhawks team reporter Eric Lear '08 won't forget the importance of a good first (second, and third) impression.

While covering the Minnesota Wild- Chicago Blackhawks playoff hockey game in 2013 for KTTC-TV (Rochester, Minn.), Lear's name was recognized on a press box seating chart by a Blackhawks employee.

The employee remembered Lear, who had previously interviewed for two jobs with his home-state NHL team, and they became reacquainted. The two stayed in touch, and talks turned serious in December of 2014 when there was a sudden opening in the Blackhawks' new media and creative services department.

Eight days later, Lear was named the new team reporter for Chicago's professional hockey team—working in a sportswriter's dream role, especially as an Illinois native.

"I started talking with the Blackhawks in college, but after getting passed up for a couple jobs I knew that I needed more experience," Lear said. "I kept working hard, getting better and moving up in the journalism business, and the next time they called I was ready. It was a long road, but I needed to make every step along the way."

After graduating from Saint Mary's in 2008, Lear found a sportswriting position at the Red Wing Republican-Eagle and worked there for a year and a half. After that, he returned to Winona and did some work for Hiawatha Broadcast Company (HBC) before joining Rochester's KTTC-TV as a sports anchor.

Lear wore many hats at each job leading up to the Blackhawks. He learned how to be a jack-of-all-trades and work a busy schedule while still in college.

"I did a lot of different things at Saint Mary's," Lear recalled. "I played basketball for four years and golf for two years. I did improv comedy and edited the sports page of the student paper. I had a part-time job at HBC, and started helping at the Winona Daily News. I gained a variety of experiences, and I became used to being busy.

"Without working at HBC and without a background at the newspaper at Saint Mary's, I would have looked a lot less attractive to employers coming out of college. It gave my portfolio a journalism base. I had real-world experience as a junior in college."

The hectic schedule as an undergraduate helped prepare Lear for the whirlwind schedule that he now manages. He hit the ground running in his new job, immediately beginning to produce stories on morning skates, game previews, game wrap-ups, and features. During home games, you can see Lear reporting live on the Jumbotron or anchoring highlights or statistics to send to media members. Schedules for road games are so fast-paced that he often ends up publishing website content while he rides the team bus to the airport.

"Professional sports is a pretty demanding career in terms of hours," Lear said. "You don't get many days off, plus you work a lot of nights, weekends, and holidays. Pretty tough to complain, though: I work in my favorite city for a championship-caliber organization that I grew up watching."

From his days on campus to his new gig with the Blackhawks, Lear has valued career guidance from faculty member Dean Beckman in the Communication Department at Saint Mary's. Beckman is known for maintaining links with his students after graduation, continuing to help with advice and networking.

"I've stayed pretty close with Dean over the years," Lear said. "I've bugged him a lot for advice. That's one cool thing about Saint Mary's—he was my adviser and my professor, and he also cared about me. He was one of the first to call and congratulate me when I got the Blackhawks offer."

Down the road, Lear will likely pass on the same advice that Beckman once gave him: get involved, start small, and go upwards from there.

"You have to work in small markets and work your way up," Lear said. "You're not going to make very much money for a long time. But if it's what you love doing, keep working hard.

"If you do your job well and you're fun to be around, things are going to go well for you."