Mike “Doc” Emrick retired Monday after a 47-year career broadcasting professional hockey, including the last 15 as the lead play-by-play voice for the NHL on NBC.
PHOTO CREDIT: NHL.com
The 74-year-old will still contribute to NBC Sports by occasionally writing and narrating video essays for its NHL coverage.
“It was 50 years ago this fall, with pen and pad in hand at old Civic Arena in Pittsburgh, I got my first chance to cover the National Hockey League,” Emrick said in a video released by NBC Sports. “Gordie Howe was a Red Wing, Bobby Hull was a Blackhawk, Bobby Orr was a Bruin. … A time like this makes me recall that we have seen a lot together. The biggest crowd ever, 105,000 at Michigan Stadium. A gold medal game that required overtime between the two North American powers in Vancouver.”
Emrick worked the Stanley Cup Final 22 times, 45 Stanley Cup Playoffs/Final Game 7s, six Olympics, 14 NHL All-Star Games and 19 NHL Winter Classics and Stadium Series games, including the inaugural Winter Classic between the Pittsburgh Penguins and Buffalo Sabres at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo on Jan. 1, 2008. Emrick estimated he’s called more than 3,750 professional and Olympic hockey games.
“The risk one takes in saying something about Doc Emrick is that you know he could have worded it better himself, on the spur of the moment, with 20,000 fans screaming in his ears (or up to 105,000 in the rain, snow and/or bitter cold), to a national broadcast audience relying on him to get it just right,” NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said. “In the 103-year history of the National Hockey League, nobody has ever conveyed the sights, sounds, passion, excitement, thrills and intricacies of our game better.
“His command of the English language under the most frenetic conditions defies comprehension. His unabashed wonder at the skill and courage of hockey players — as genuine in his call of Game 6 of the 2020 Stanley Cup Final as in his first day doing hockey play-by-play in 1971 — always reminded listeners and viewers of the marvel he was describing. His reverence for hockey’s traditions and history, coupled with his devilish sense of humor, conveyed that, while he knew he was calling a game, it was always much more to him than just a game.
“For obvious reasons, hockey is the most challenging sport for a play-by-play man. Doc somehow didn’t just master it, he transformed it into art. The game, of course, goes on. But it never again will sound quite the same.”
Emrick won the Foster Hewitt Award, presented by the Hockey Hall of Fame for outstanding contributions to hockey broadcasting, in 2008. He became the first broadcaster inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 2011, the year he won the first of eight Sports Emmy Awards for Outstanding Sports Personality — Play-by-Play, including seven straight from 2014-20.
The nickname “Doc” came from Emrick’s time at Bowling Green State University, where he called hockey from 1971-73 and graduated with a Ph.D.
“Things change over 50 years, but much of what I love is unchanged from then to now and into the years ahead,” Emrick said. “I still get chills seeing the Stanley Cup. I especially love when the horn sounds, and one team has won and another team hasn’t, all hostility can dissolve into the timeless great display of sportsmanship — the handshake line.
“Sixty years since I saw my first game, 50 years since I first reported on the NHL, 40 years of calling NHL games. … I leave you with sincere thanks.”
Emrick’s professional career began when he was hired to do radio play-by-play and public relations for Port Huron of the International Hockey League in 1973. He held the same two positions for Maine of the American Hockey League from 1977-80. He covered the Philadelphia Flyers as a spot announcer for home broadcasts and in-studio analyst from 1980-83 before being promoted to lead play-by-play announcer in 1988. He also was the primary television voice of the New Jersey Devils for 21 seasons, first from 1983-86 and returning for a second stint in 1993, which lasted until announcing July 21, 2011, that he would work exclusively for NBC Sports.
“Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick is a national treasure — simply put, he’s one of the best ever to put on a headset in the history of sports broadcasting,” said Sam Flood, executive producer and president, production, NBC and NBCSN. “Doc’s love of the game and his unmatched style produced true artistry, engaged new fans and quickly became the soundtrack of hockey. He lived at the rink on game days, spending countless hours at morning skates to find one more story to seamlessly weave into his frenetic, yet lyrical, call of a game.
“Doc always found the right words to meet the moment. It’s impossible to put into words the impact Doc has had not only on the game of hockey, but for anyone who has had the distinct pleasure to work with him.”
Emrick called the 2020 postseason, beginning with the Stanley Cup Qualifiers, from a custom-made studio outside of Detroit. His final broadcast was Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Final when the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated the Dallas Stars 2-0 to win the Cup for the first time since 2004, calling the game with longtime partner Eddie Olczyk.
“It has been a privilege and education on hockey’s biggest stage to have sat next to Doc for the last 14 years,” Olczyk said. “I will miss his stories, his preparation, his play-by-play, his friendship, and our dinners on the road. But most of all, I will miss his trust. My family and I wish him, Joyce, the pups and horses lots of love down the road.”
Emrick’s book, “Off Mike: How a Kid from Basketball-Crazy Indiana Became America’s NHL Voice,” co-authored with Kevin Allen, will be released Tuesday.
“It’s just an overall book of experiences about hockey, minor leagues and networks, and all 40 years in the NHL,” Emrick said June 23. “It’s all pulled together with some life experiences and some stories about dogs, some about doing some brief NFL work, and Bob Costas and I doing a baseball game in Pittsburgh. It’s just oddball things. Hopefully it’ll be entertaining.”