Move to mainland has been a whirlwind for Carpenter

Mark Carpenter’s childhood encounters with the frozen version of water were mostly limited to post-beach visits to Waiola for shave ice or flailing around at the rink near Aloha Stadium.

“I’m like a giraffe on skates,” said the Kamehameha and Hawaii Pacific graduate from Palolo of his visits to the Ice Palace. “Just awful.”

Hockey? Until recently, non-existent in Mark’s otherwise sports-obsessed mind.

And an afterthought, if that, in mine. So when I called (full-disclosure and family humblebrag alert) my cousin Monica’s son, I’d forgotten all about the NHL. When it came to cups, I was thinking more about those Draymond Green’s opponents should consider wearing than the one named for Lord Stanley.

“Yup, the Stanley Cup, too,” Carpenter, now a sports reporter and anchor at KRON in San Francisco, said with a laugh. “One Sunday I was working Game 2 of the NBA (Finals) with the Warriors and Cavs and then on Monday down to San Jose for Game 4 of the Sharks and Penguins. I had to do some research. You have your go-to phrases, like ‘light the red lamp,’ and ‘biscuit in the basket.’”

Oh, and don’t forget that little game down the road at Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, the Super Bowl. So it’s a sports media coverage triple crown at the tender age of 25 for the former Hawaii News Now anchor. Three major professional sports championships in the first half of 2016, less than a year on the job.

It’s been quite a ride even for a veteran like Larry Beil, the former ESPN anchor who graduated from the University of Hawaii and is sports director at San Francisco’s KGO.

“It’s been a whirlwind the past few months,” said Beil, who often has courtside conversations with Carpenter about the islands. “It feels like I lived at Oracle Arena the past couple of months.”

Biggest of the big thrills for Carpenter?

“Since I’m a lifelong Broncos fan, the Super Bowl gets 1-A and one of the greatest NBA Finals ever gets 1-B,” said Carpenter, who was sent to Cleveland to cover Game 6.

LeBron James’ block to help clinch Game 7 for the Cavs was the most memorable moment of the series for Carpenter.

“It was insane to watch that in real life, because I had a perfect view but never saw him coming. No one did,” he said. “And when Kyrie Irving hit that shot to ice it, the place just deflated.”

Carpenter even worked Hawaii’s biggest sports story of 2016. Since it was against area school Cal, he reported on the University of Hawaii’s first-ever win in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

As big as this year has been, 2015 will always be more important for him. That’s when he married Ashley — and that’s why they’re in the Bay Area. Ashley, an ICU nurse, was selected to an anesthesia course of study, which required moving.

“The crux of the move was Ashley got into this elite program,” said Carpenter, who left HNN without a job yet in California. “We didn’t want to start the marriage long-distance. It all worked out.”

Cal opens its football season against UH, so maybe he needs to get a passport, considering the roll he is on.

“Australia? I could definitely go for that,” he said.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. His blog is at Hawaiiwarriorworld.com/quick-reads.