The NHL is back on ESPN

[Dummy Hoy]

Bucci is nails on a chalkboard bad at PBP so that sucks, but was inevitable. Great guy for hockey but just the worst PBP guy around. They also should leave Wshynski behind the paywall so nobody needs to be involuntarily subjected to the vomit coming out of his mouth. I thought Melrose was dead by now. Too bad.

Other than that, good stuff. Traded Edzo for Ray Ferraro, huge upgrade.

Hope Levy is lead pbp. He is great at hockey (not so much football).

Agree with all of this.

 

[MiracleOfO2704]

Don’t forget that we still don’t know what Turner’s team will look like. I’d take Pierre-to-TNT off the board if I were a sports book.

 

[cshea]

There's still more additions to come, including a possible Gary Thorne return. The Athletic did a Q&A with the ESPN SVP (senior VP, not Scott) who is heading up the hockey coverage.

https://theathletic.com/2680963/2021/06/29/how-espn-built-its-nhl-broadcasting-team-programming-expectations-and-what-about-gary-thorne/

What about Gary Thorne? That’s been the biggest question I see on social media after the announcement.

I spoke to Bob Rosen, his agent, three or four times since the middle of March. And we’re not done yet. Bob and I are going to hopefully talk again tomorrow. We’re going to just want to leave it that we’ve had the conversation and let the dust settle from the announcement that we made today. And then we’ll kind of pick it up from there.

 

[ColdSoxPack]

Gary Thorne the human foghorn. They could pair him with Tom Caron.

 

[soxhop411]

For those who missed it here is who ESPN opened their return to Hockey on ESPN
View: https://youtu.be/_lZ-0-N4wwQ

 

[changer591]

For those who missed it here is who ESPN opened their return to Hockey on ESPN
View: https://youtu.be/_lZ-0-N4wwQ

Not a fan of Justin Bieber, but goddamn did that video give me the chills. Thank you for sharing it.

 

[Zososoxfan]

That was fucking awesome. Even though I dislike ESPN nowadays, it's undeniably good for the sport to have it on ESPN.

 

[LogansDad]

Yeah, that was way more awesome of a 6 minute clip than it had any right to be, really good stuff, and gave me chills. It is crazy how important music can be in recalling things from times past. I also agree with Zo that it is awesome for the sport that they are finally back on ESPN. Love them or hate them, they are still important in the spots landscape.

As an aside, while I certainly don't think he is the "best" in the business, when I was a kid John Buccigross' dad was my Sunday School teacher, so I'm really happy for him, because he has been a serious trooper sticking it out there all these years while ESPN largely ignored the sport that he covers.