Thank You Doc

Sports broadcasters. The voices who make the game come alive. For those who call the game of hockey, both on TV and on the Radio, calling hockey games has to be one of the toughest of all sports to be able to call, because of the speed of the game. There have been so many great voices that have stepped behind a microphone to call games in pro hockey. John Foslund, Chris Cuthburt, Jim Hughson, Gary Thorne, Joe Beninati, Dean Brown, Gord Miller, Pat Foley, Joe Bowen, Bob Cole, the list goes on and on. I Think that there's one name that usually comes up at the top of a lot of people's lists to be the very best to ever do this. Mike Emrick is his name, but most know him as Doc Emrick. After 47 years of calling pro hockey games, Doc has decided to step away from the mic and call it a career.

Doc earned that nickname while getting his PhD in communications from Bowling Green in 1976. He began calling hockey games in Maine in 1977 and has been doing it ever since. He started in the NHL with the Devils in 1983, moved to the Flyers in 1986 and went back to New Jersey in 1993, staying there until 2011. While working games in New Jersey, he started calling games on National TV for Fox and NBC. He has been doing strictly national broadcasts since 2011, with his final call being game six of this years Cup Finals between the Lightning and Stars.

What Doc brings to the game is something that is rare to find in a broadcaster, not just hockey but for any sport. He has a vast array of words he uses to describe a play, which makes him more distinguished from other announcers. Doc is also known for his inflections when calling games. Many fans know for Doc screaming HE SCORES or HITS OFF THE POST WITH THE SHOT! in only the way Doc can.

You've heard a lot of people talk about this since the announcement was made and its true, Doc was an inspiration to many in the business and the sports world. For me personally Doc Emrick is one of my hero's. I knew pretty early on that there was no chance I was going to make the pro ranks as a player. So I wanted to do the next best thing, I wanted to be the one talking about it. I wanted to host my own talk show, which I do with this podcast. And I wanted to be the guy up in the broadcast booth of an NHL arena calling a game on the radio. It's something I still dream about doing to this day, even though I don't work there currently. Doc is one of the biggest5 influences on me for wanting to even remotely think about doing this for a living. The way he described the play on the ice was captivating. It drew me in and has kept me here ever since. I said it all the time, and its true. I had three hero's in the hockey broadcasting world I wanted to be like. Jiggs McDonald, who was the voice of the Islanders for years, Gary Thorne, who had national games on ESPN, and Doc, who worked for the Devils and Nationally.

It has been a real honor to hear Doc call games during most of my life. He was almost a soundtrack to the winter months for me. I knew this was going to come at some point, but still am not ready for it. Going to be real hard and tough to imagine watching hockey and not hearing Doc on the call. I'm sure, as time goers on, I'll be able to imagine how Doc would call something while I'm watching a game.

Thanks for an amazing career Doc its been a lot of fun and a true honor to listen to you call a hockey game. You will be missed!