Mike Emrick

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Mike "Doc" Emrick, Ph.D. (born August 1, 1946 in La Fontaine, Indiana) is an Emmy Award - winning American sportscaster. In the United States, he is one of the most recognized announcers in professional ice hockey.

Emrick has been sportscasting since 1973, when he did play-by-play for the IHL Port Huron Flags. In 1977 he became the voice of the AHL Maine Mariners for three seasons before moving up to the parent NHL Philadelphia Flyers. He has been calling NHL hockey games for either the Flyers, New York Rangers (as a substitute for Marv Albert), or New Jersey Devils ever since. Emrick served as the team's first voice in New Jersey, arriving for the 1982–83 NHL season. He returned to the team to replace Gary Thorne for the 1993 Stanley Cup Playoffs and has been the team's voice ever since. He was the voice of the Philadelphia Flyers from 1988 to 1993.

Emrick has also done play-for-play for CBS, NBC, Versus (TV channel), TNT, ESPN, Fox, ABC, CSTV, SportsChannel Philadelphia, Prism (TV channel), Fox Sports Net, and others.

Emrick earned a Bachelor's degree in speech from Manchester College in 1964, a Master's degree in radio/television from Miami University (Ohio) in 1969, and a Doctorate in radio/television/film from Bowling Green State University in 1976 (a degree from which he gets his nickname, "Doc"). He received the 2004 Lester Patrick Trophy and worked at that year's Summer Olympics, calling the men's and women's water polo competition. He also was the lead play-by-play man for the 2006 Winter Olympics for men and women's hockey action.

Emrick taught speech and broadcasting at Geneva College in Beaver Falls, PA from 1969-1971 and got his first experience of the NHL covering the Penguins as an unpaid correspondent for the Beaver County Times newspaper.

Emrick was the lead play-by-play announcer for The NHL on ESPN from 1986–1988. He first came to national over the air television doing regional games for The NHL on ABC from 1993–1994. In 1995, Emrick became the play-by-play man of The NHL on FOX game of the week, which was also known (during the "glow puck era") as the FoxTrax Game of the Week from 1995–98 (FOXTrax was not used during the 1998–99 season), calling the Stanley Cup Finals for FOX. After FOX relinquished the NHL rights to ABC, he became a regional announcer for The NHL on ABC, in the same backup game role he had at ABC in the early 90s, from 2000–2004. He would only call select playoff games at this time, but did file reports for ABC Sports and ESPN's Stanley Cup Finals coverage.

He is the current primary play by play announcer for the New Jersey Devils for their games on MSG Plus. He works together with Chico Resch and the pair is immensely popular with Devils fans.

Since the 2005–06 NHL season, Emrick has been the lead play-by-play announcer for The NHL on Versus (formerly The NHL on OLN) and The NHL on NBC, and since 2008, has served as an overall host of the telecast. He calls the top Conference Final and the entire Stanley Cup Finals for both networks. He has called games in 11 Stanley Cup Finals on TV (for ESPN, FOX, OLN/Versus, and NBC). He has also called six NHL All-Star Games for FOX and Versus. With the NHL returning to both networks for next season, he will add one more of each. He called the 1996 World Cup of Hockey for the Prime Network and the 2004 World Cup of Hockey for ESPN.

Emrick has done two Olympic Games for NBC and one for CBS, and will call Water Polo and Ice Hockey in the Beijing and Vancouver Olympics, respectively. He also called some National Football League and men's NCAA basketball tournament games while at CBS, and called the National Lacrosse League All-Star Game and Championship Game while at NBC.

Emrick is a founding member, and still president of, the NHL Pronunciation Guide, which is used as a guide for all NHL broadcasters for some of hockey's most difficult names. He is Vice President of the NHL Broadcaster's Association, and he is also a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame Selection Committee. He was most recently honored by the Hockey Hall of Fame as the winner of the Foster Hewitt Memorial Award, for outstanding contributions to hockey broadcasting.

[edit] Memorable Games Called

  • Game 7, 1987 Stanley Cup Finals, Flyers vs Oilers. The Oilers win their third Cup in four years. (ESPN)
  • 1988 NHL All-Star Game. Mario Lemieux caps a three-goal, six-point night with an overtime goal. (ESPN)
  • Game 4, 1988 Stanley Cup Finals, Oilers vs Bruins. A power outage at Boston Garden during the second period causes the game to be suspended and re-played in Edmonton two nights later, where the Oilers prevailed to win their fourth Cup in five years. (ESPN)
  • 1992 Winter Olympics Gold Medal Game. The Unified Team defeats Canada 3–1 to win the gold medal. (CBS)
  • 1994 Winter Olympics Gold Medal Game. Peter Forsberg scores his legendary penalty shot goal to give the Swedes the Gold. (CBS)
  • Game 6, 1994 Eastern Conference Finals, Rangers vs. Devils. Mark Messier publicly guarantees a victory, then scores a hat-trick. (SportsChannel New York)
  • Game 4, 1995 Stanley Cup Finals, Red Wings vs. Devils. Devils win first Championship. (FOX)
  • Game 3, 1996 World Cup Final, USA vs Canada. The USA ralies from a third-period deficit to beat Canada 5–2 and win the inaugural World Cup of Hockey. (FX)
  • 1997 NHL All-Star Game. Owen Nolan calls his shot on a breakaway for a hat trick in San Jose. (FOX)
  • Game 1, 1997 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals, Canadiens vs. Devils. Martin Brodeur scores a goal. (SportsChannel New York)
  • Game 4, 1998 Western Conference Finals, Stars vs. Red Wings. Vladimir Konstantinov returns to the Joe Louis Arena. (FOX)
  • April 18, 1999. Wayne Gretzky's final NHL game as the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the New York Rangers, 2–1. (FOX)
  • Game 2, 2004 Western Conference Semifinals, Avalanche vs. Sharks. Jonathan Cheechoo scores between his legs. (ABC)
  • 2006 Winter Olympics Gold Medal Game. Sweden defeats Finland for the Gold in Torino, Italy. (NBC)
  • Game 7, 2006 Stanley Cup Finals, Oilers vs. Hurricanes. Hurricanes win their first Championship. (NBC)
  • Game 5, 2007 Stanley Cup Finals, Senators vs. Ducks. Ducks win their first Championship. (NBC)
  • January 1, 2008. The AMP Energy NHL Winter Classic, the league's first outdoor game in the United States, in which the Pittsburgh Penguins defeat the Buffalo Sabres 2–1 in a shootout in front of a league-record crowd of 71,127 at Ralph Wilson Stadium in Buffalo. (NBC)
  • June 2, 2008, Game 5 Stanley Cup Finals, Penguins at Red Wings. Maxime Talbot postpones Detroit's Stanley Cup celebration, stunning the Wings with the tying goal in the final minute and Petr Sykora scores in the third overtime to force a sixth game. (NBC)

MEMORABLE QUOTES:

Doc’s quotes Unique Quotes

• “And Clarkson rolls over (some guy on the stars) and doesn’t bother to honk his horn”

• “There are a bunch of flapping birds in the building but so far they've been kept quiet”

• (shot hits the post) “The cash register bell rang, but the till didn’t open”

• “And the defensemen are guarding the posts like two lions standing outside a New York City library”

• “Madden brings it on, drive, and that one would not go through the sixth hole which is the chest once penetrated by Attila the Hun”

• “...And the puck trickles and trickles and trickles and crawls on its knees over the goal line”

• Talking about the rockets’, the scene of the toy soldier, where they fall down like dominos “...they have really good precision, which is something my high school marching band lacked”

• “And Langenbruenner blocks the puck, using the unconventional stick” –which was his skate because his stick broke.

• “Hockey is a game played by people, and not robots”

• “And the horn sounds as the ship goes down the Potomac” -the goal horn started playing after the refs signaled no goal in the Washington Capitals game.

• “Karpenen didn’t see the freight train from the Ukraine coming into the station and ahead of schedule too”

• “And Lassie comes home to the penalty box”

• “He wanted to hit him into next week, but only got a day and a half”

• “... and the game has developed a little snarl to it"

• “And Clarksen gets an extra two pints for the takedown”

• “I apologize for Chico”

• "Both teams are giving up some chances and there's nothing wrong with that. In fact, we kind of like it that way"

• “And Colin White is allowed back out and play with his friends” – when penalty is over

• “And we have some extra-curricular activities here” – either a fight, or an argument

• “And a crowd gathers for something other than the puck”

• “Worming his way through the zone”

• “..Comes Pouring over the boards in a wholesale line change”

• “2nd Period Highlights brought to you by Resche’s Mint Flavored Hotdogs, How much mint? Just a hint!"

• “And that one goes off of Elias’s wallet” – a shot hit Elias in the side of the pants

• “And Clarkson does what Clarkson’s do” – after checking 2 people

• “The Devils are like gnats at a picnic during dessert”

• “And the Devils have elected to defend the left end zone where the wind is blowing” – right before the shootout begins

• “And Kozlov circumvents that lunacy" –when koslov got though 2 players at the blue line

• After a real close 1 goal game “And one Devils fan will look to another Devils fan a say “We had them all the way””.

• “He had the gun loaded but no ammo”

• “Live form NEAW-YAAWK it’s Chico with the highlights” –when they were playing the Rangers in NY. Said it in a heavy NY accent.

• “My goodness Murphey, what’s going on?”

• “It hit some poor sole”

• “Well Marty knows we have people to pay, so he’ll hold onto the puck and we’ll go to a commercial”

• "... A reminder of the stray blade of Colin White is still out there and is picked up by one of the referees in a cleanup maneuver in aisle six."

• "Hanzal's shot is blocked off by Vishnevski in the role of Gretel..."

• “ We recommend that you write those down in pencil, because when you have a lot of Langenbrunnerian points, that’s a lot of letters to write down that quickly” - When langenbrunner had 2 points and a possible third

• “It was not inaccurate, it was just way off”

• “And were waiting for Judge Judy upstairs for the ruling” - on a goal review.

• “They've been stitched up more times than a Frankensteinian monster" –talking about pads

• Talking about third period shots. “we’ve got a truckers scoreboard, that’s a big 10-4 in favor of the Devils.

• (describing the crowd after a goal) “and the crowd changes quickly [from boos to cheers] like the stock market”


Common Quotes


• “and that one catches the glass”

• “no sale”

• “DRIIIIIVVVVEEEEE SCOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE!!!!!!”

• “and he pitchforks it out of the zone"

• “(when play is end to end) “my this is dull hockey” (sarcasm)

• “and play…continues” on a play that a penalty should have been called on

• “helter skelter”

• “IT HITS THE POST!” (screams)

• “DRIIIIIIIIVE …..and that catches the paraphernalia of the goal tender”

• “my that was a good conception of a play”

• “DRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIVE”

• “and that one was foiled by the great play of (name of player)”

• “OHHHHHHHHHH WHAT A SAVE BY BRODEUR!! HOW DID THAT ONE NOT GET IN!!?”

• “and that ones calmly waffle boarded away by Brodeur”

• “and that one is knifed away by the defense”

• “and the Devils will have to recoil”

• “Meanwhile back at the Ranch”

• “Oh and a head hunter gets the glass”

• “and the Devils are warming to the task”

• “and were down to the last 100 seconds of the period”

• “all righty then”

• “Sure glad you joined us tonight”

• “and (players name), nice play with the spin o rama”

• “Hits a chink in the glass”

• “Odelinian Pass" whenever someone passes back to the goalie

• “and he was Plastered to the boards”

• “fistacuffs”

• “and here we go” – right before a fight

• “And he is nearly run to the ditch by..”

• “Feather-pass ahead”

• “And a freight-train hit put on by”

• “Dealt along by”

• “And its spiked wide of the net”

• “Scales it back in”

• “and it hits the mesh” – over the glass

• “His stick betrays him”

• “And a big awww comes up from the crowd”

[edit] References