There might not be a better seat in the house from where Steve Ball sits at City Arena.

From center ice between the penalty boxes Ball announces the lineups, goals, assists, shots and penalties as the announcer for the Albert Lea boys’ and girls’ hockey teams. It’s not a bad gig for part-time work for a hockey enthusiast like Ball, who grew up playing the game.

Ball’s voice has carried through the City Arena for the past seven years and he’s enjoyed taking in all the games and watching the players improve on the ice.

“I enjoy watching the kids mature because I’ve watched them grow up and how they become assured of themselves,” Ball said. “The first high school games you watch them, they’re timid. Pretty soon they’re throwing a check, they’re feeling better or they’re hearing their name on the PA system and they like that. You can tell the ones that like that. And they’re walking out of the locker room after the game with a smile, the head’s up now.”

There’s not a whole lot of flash or inflection in his tone when he announces but outside of announcing the game he is loquacious and engaging. His subdued style may come in part from his other part-time gig as a soccer referee, where he admits he doesn’t always know the score of the game he referees.

Although the soccer and hockey seem very different at first glance, the two games have much more in common, Ball said.

“There’s a lot more than people realize,” Ball said. “It’s the same principle. The better soccer and the better hockey they do the same diagonal passing and everything else. It is so close it’s scary.”

Ball started working at the City Arena nine years ago to help tide him through the slow winter months of the painting business and continued to work there as he started his own business, Paintball.

He’s gotten more than a few calls because of the confusion of the name of his painting business with that of the sport that has grown in popularity during the same time.

“It was always between 10 and 11 at night and it was always the same thing,” Ball said. “I’d see the caller ID — didn’t know them — I’d answer it, they’d go ‘Hey man,’ I’d go, ‘Yeah,’ They’d say, ‘I’d kinda like to go shooting with ya, man.’ I said, ‘I’d kinda like to go shooting with you but I shoot real guns.’ I said, ‘My last name is Ball, I’m a house painter.’ ‘Oh, oh, see ya man.’”

Aside from the awkward late-night phone calls the name and the logo stuck out and in a few years his business grew to where he didn’t need to work at the arena, but because he enjoyed it so much he’s stayed on as the announcer.

Ball said he volunteered for the announcing role, but some suggested he fit the position well.

“I think I kind of volunteered and got told I have a big mouth any way,” he said. “Nobody else would talk into the mic.”

Ball has been at the rink in one capacity or another for much of his life. When he was in high school he played on the hockey team and worked at the old rink at the fairgrounds for a couple of years. A few years later he helped with some of the cosmetic construction with City Arena.

When he worked at the fairgrounds rink he said people hit the rink at 5:30 a.m. and came off at midnight a lot of the time. There were no Zambonis either at that time at the rink and Ball shoveled off the rink between teams took to the ice and resurfaced it when needed, though resurfacing took two men and a bulky contraption.

Age: 53

Address:

312 E. Fifth St.

Livelihood:

Painter, hockey announcer, soccer ref

Family: son, Andy; daughters Sarah and Nicole

Interesting fact: He recently shot a bear in North Dakota on a hunting trip.

Before he started working at the arena nine years ago he attended the high school games and played some in the adult leagues. In many ways he was a fixture at the rink before taking a more prominent role.

The winters go by quicker than summers, Ball said, but that might be because he isn’t on the go as much during the summer. Most days during the winter he’s already worked a full day painting and then comes to the rink to call the games and help clean up after and it develops into a 14-hour work day for him. But he’s not the only one at the arena who works there as a second job. Most of the people working at night work their primary job during the day and then come to the arena.

“We all enjoy it,” Ball said. “It’s all a second job for us. You’re getting into some 14, 15, 16-hour days sometimes so you’re getting tired, but we all get along.”

Once hockey season wraps up he quickly transitions into the soccer season. Last year he refereed 56 games, including high school games during the fall.

Ball said he didn’t know anything about soccer, but once his three children started playing the game he learned quickly. Once they stopped playing he became a referee.

His first game remains hockey.

“I enjoy hockey,” Ball said. “I always have.”