Some 200 students are involved in the sports broadcasts, Mullen said, a quarter of whom work with the Islanders. “I would stack our broadcast up against anything I hear across the National Hockey league,” said King, an Islanders employee who has worked on the team’s broadcasts for 20 years. “There’s some things we do that are even better.

The combination of [student] manpower and the ability to have more free time than most commercial broadcasts allows us to be a little more robust.”

King likened Savarino to a “utility infielder,” interspersing his work on site with interviews and reporting, and, in the studio, engineering, cutting highlights or working the in-game updates. “Any job you need done, he’s there to do it,” King said. “He’s a real go-getter. He’s very interested in improving himself and getting better.”

‘Living a dream’

Savarino’s first Islanders game was on Valentine’s Day 2013. The squad defeated the Rangers in overtime at Madison Square Garden, a game he said ranks atop his fondest memories at WRHU, along with this season’s home opener last October against the Columbus Blue Jackets. “Those are two games that I really looked around,” Savarino reflected, “and was like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I’m actually doing this.’”

He also got to cover this year’s NHL Stadium Series at Yankee Stadium, outdoor games matching up the Rangers and Devils, on Jan. 26, and the Islanders and Rangers, on Jan. 29. For the final game, the students’ broadcast aired nationally on WCBS radio. “A much, much wider audience got to hear their work,” said King. “And hear what an incredible job they do.”

“Dan is a shining example of a local student who came to Hofstra [who] has drive, passion and commitment,” Mullen said. “He worked his way up through the Hofstra sports … he was given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and he’s taken full advantage of it.”