Cunningham added to Spirit radio booth

The Saginaw Spirit announced yesterday the addition of OHL veteran broadcaster Leigh Cunningham to its full-time staff. He will serve as the team’s director of broadcasting and communications and will join color commentator Dennis Desrosiers in the radio booth as the play-by-play broadcaster.

Cunningham, with nearly 10 years of experience broadcasting in the league, is scheduled to broadcast the team’s game tonight against the Niagara IceDogs. The road game broadcast airs on FM Talk and Sports 100.5, starting at 6:30 p.m. with a 7:00 p.m. puck drop.

“Our organization has been successful for many reasons and one of them is because we have great people working for us,” stated Spirit president and partner Craig Goslin. “With the addition of Leigh Cunningham to our full-time staff, we add a level of professionalism and integrity to our program. We are excited to have Leigh join us and are looking forward to his play-by-play call of the game alongside our color commentator Dennis Desrosiers.”

Cunningham brings extensive OHL broadcasting experience to the Spirit, having called major junior hockey games since 1998, including three OHL finals, four OHL conference championships, and an OHL All-Star game. The Sarnia, Ont., native also co-hosted the 2005 Memorial Cup post-game special for Rogers Television.

Prior to coming to the Spirit Cunningham did play-by-play broadcasting for the Sarnia Sting (2007-08), the Windsor Spitfires (2006-07) and the London Knights (2002-06). He also served as the director of broadcasting and media relations for the North Bay Centennials (2000-02), prior to their move to Saginaw in 2002. While with the Centennials he directed and executed the radio broadcasts, created and distributed the team’s media releases and prepared the Centennials statistics.

“Leigh’s extensive and exceptional OHL experience will educate and entertain our fans greatly," added Goslin. "With Leigh and Dennis in the broadcast booth, we feel that we have one of the best radio teams in the entire 62-team Canadian Hockey League.”