The Last Rodeo

After 30 years and over 2000 NHL broadcasts, my last NHL broadcast happened in December of 2021. Here's the story - and why it was so meaningful and important to me to end it with that one.

Caley Chelios and Genna Rose on the air with me for my last NHL TV broadcast, American Airlines Center, Dallas, TX, December 18, 2021

Broadcasting Partners

Even with 25 of my over 30 years of NHL broadcasting with one team, it’s amazing how many different analysts I worked with over the years. By recent rough count, I’ve been in the booth with a couple dozen analysts, maybe more.

Daryl Reaugh and I were together almost 20 years and I’m thankful for that partnership. I learned a lot working with Razor, and together we called the Dallas Stars franchises’ biggest moments.

With the Stars, when Razor was working national TV games, I was partnered with people like Brett Hull, Marty Turco, Stu Barnes, Craig Ludwig, Gerald Diduck, Bob Sturm, and Chuck Cooperstein.

I worked with many others on Westwood One Radio and worked for Howard Denerof, the best national radio sports producer on the planet. Howard produced most of the Super Bowls, Monday Night Football, NCAA Basketball and March Madness, the Stanley Cup Playoffs, The Masters, and the list goes on. He worked with the giants - Vin, Marv, Jack Buck, Kevin Harlan, Ian Eagle, Boomer, Millen, and … me. Ha. As a young guy, listening to these broadcasts regularly, this was the pinnacle for me. I made it. You gotta be really good at this to get that call. I’m proud of myself.

The Last Radio Rodeo - Howard called me to work the Winter Classic at the Cotton Bowl on Jan 1, 2020 - Stars/Preds - another great full circle moment and he was more than aware what it meant to me.

I also got games from NHL Network television after leaving the Stars booth.

On all those radio and TV shows I worked with national guys like Darren Pang, Billy Jaffe, Darren Eliot, Mike Johnson, Dave Reid, Jimmy Fox, and more - and way back when… I was thrown in there with a budding young analyst, then recent NHL retiree Eddie Olczyk. He did some of his first broadcasts on radio with me.

Me and Mike Johnson - 2019 NHL Global Series for NHL Network - Lausanne, Switzerland (we also did games in Berlin and Prague)

But then, while working in Chicago with the Blackhawks as a Broadcast Consultant in the 2021-2022 season, while helping them find new people all the way around for their broadcasts, an opportunity presented itself and I knew this was something that needed to happen, and that I very much wanted to happen.

Here’s the story of how Caley Chelios became the first woman in the booth for the Chicago Blackhawks broadcast, how Genna Rose got her first taste of NHL TV broadcasting, and how I had a hand in it - and how it turned out to be one of the most memorable (and maybe my favorite…) NHL games I’ve ever called.

Fittingly, I worked it so the game would be in Texas. What the hell. It was my last rodeo.

But to hear that story - you have to understand how it was that I got to Chicago, what was happening in Chicago with the organization - and with me.

Team T-shirts for the big night (in the Hotel where I spent 153 days) in Chicago - 2021-2022