From Saturday deejay at a small radio station in Merritt to one of the premier play-by-play voices in the B.C. Hockey League. Todd Miller grew up listening to Canuck broadcasters Jim Robson and Jim Hughson before serving a radio apprenticeship of sorts and landing a job calling Merritt Centennial games by chance. He has now done 570 BCHL games. “My uncle (Rob Shick) refs in NHL,” said Miller, who just turned 29. “I started out wanting to have a career in hockey. I didn't know how I was going to get there and what I was going to do. Everytime I went to Vancouver to see him and I went down to the dressing room and got to meet the guys, I knew I wanted to be in the NHL. That's how it all started.” A 1996 graduate and Honour Roll student at Merritt Secondary, Miller first went on air during the eight-to-two Saturday dayshift at Radio NL. “Andrew Laird, who is now in sales at Kiss-FM, was the program director. He basically developed my voice and worked with me one-on-one for a long time. I had no formal education but I had always wanted to do hockey. I felt like radio (education) through school was for peple who wanted to do news, and I never wanted to do news. I enjoyed going on and reading the weather.” In '95, Centennial broadcaster Jake Main gave Miller the break he needed. “I went on the road with him and he created the path for me. He put me on one night as colourman and the rest is history.” Miller, who never played minor hockey, replaced Main as the Cents' play-by-play man the following season. The quiet and businesslike Miller is known for a big, boisterous and clear voice that is easy to listen to for three periods and overtime. He does his homework and can recall a single play or game from years gone by like it happened an hour ago. “I don't know if there's one word to describe my style,” he laughed. “I'm definitely passionate. I grew listening to Jim Robson. You went to bed at seven o'clock listening to Jim Robson and Canuck games, and later Jim Hughson. One of my criticisms is I don't get as excited when the opposition team scores. “You have to be a bit of a homer but I try not to be too much of a homer. I call a spade a spade within reason so I can cash my paycheque at the end of the day.” His favourite rink is in Trail, where the pressbox is right over the player benches. He also enjoys calling Viper victories in his hometown. Miller, who was a pitcher and shortstop in his minor baseball days, plays slo-pitch and travels with his wife Tiffany during the summers these days. Miller had one of buddies check Tiffany out when she volunteered with the Cents booster club in '98. Todd asked Tiffany out, they dated, and married six years later. “She likes to call herself a hockey widow,” laughed Miller. “We have been together long enough she understands the lifestyle and knows she's not going to see much of me in the winter.” Unsure how long he was going to work for the Vipers when he began working alongside owner Duncan Wray, coach Mike Vandekamp and office manager Jackie George five years ago, Miller figures unless the Canucks offer him full-time work, free parking and a condo on the ocean, he's not leaving Vernon. “I don't know that I'm ever going to leave. I hear a lot of people say that about the Okanagan. First and foremost I get treated incredibly well by this organization. Dr. Duncan Wray, I couldn't say a bad thing bad about him. He's given me opportunities that a lot of people may not get in this league… “I've had opportunities and I've let them slide and I don't see an opportunity at that next level coming up that's going to knock my socks off. I can see myself being here for a very long time.” Kevin Mitchell is the Sports Editor of the Vernon Morning Star
It’s Miller Time on Viper Broadcasts
