The Voice of Hockey: What makes Mike Emrick so special 

By Owen Gund 

Mike “Doc” Emrick has never skated a day in his life, but he’s in the Hockey Hall of Fame. Emrick is the most iconic voice in hockey and one of the most recognizable voices in professional sports. He has captivated hockey fans across North America for almost five decades by using unique descriptions to bring the game to life. 

Emrick’s passion and enthusiasm for hockey started when he first saw a game live in the early 1960s when he was 14 years old.

“I had never seen anything so fast or bombastic,” he said during NBC Sports’ “The Voice of Hockey” documentary. At that first game, Emrick was immediately drawn to the physicality of hockey and was in awe of “the way they [players] committed their bodies to collide into the boards.” 

Until he attended that game, Emrick was an aspiring baseball announcer, but his career goal changed after experiencing the thrill of a live hockey game.

“On the way to the car, that was it for me,” he said. “I wanted to be a hockey announcer.” 

Emrick’s journey to achieving this dream was anything but ordinary. 

When he graduated college, Emrick was still looking for an opportunity in broadcasting but was preparing for a career as a college teacher. Emrick earned a Ph.D. in communications at Bowling Green State University. His Ph.D. earned him his “Doc” nickname that stuck with him for his entire career. 

Emrick chose to pursue his doctorate at Bowling Green for reasons unrelated to teaching. He wanted to go to a school that had a campus radio station that carried hockey games. He decided to go to Bowling Green when the person in charge of the campus radio station told him he could call the second period of each hockey game.   

Emrick’s work at Bowling Green helped him earn his first paid broadcasting job as the voice of the Port Huron Flags of the International Hockey League.  

He ended up spending the next seven years as a minor league broadcaster and spent a lot of time wondering if he would ever make it to the NHL.   

In a 2015 interview with HBO’s “Real Sports,” Emrick said his enjoyment of the work he had been doing prevented him from being deterred. 

 “I guess I wanted a fun job,” Emrick said. “And this has always been a fun job for me, and I really wanted it badly. And so if you want something bad enough, you just go after it.” 

Sure enough, Emrick earned his big break in 1983 when the Philadelphia Flyers hired him to be their spot announcer.  

Emrick would enjoy a 37 year NHL broadcasting career in which he narrated several big moments on local and national broadcasts. He was the voice of the New Jersey Devils for each of their three Stanley Cup championships. He called the final game of Wayne Gretzky’s career, and he was at the microphone for Sidney Crosby’s golden goal in the 2010 Winter Olympics. 

“He described exactly what you’re feeling as a player in that moment,” Crosby later told NBC Sports. “It’s a real skill, a real talent.

When the best of the best were on the ice, Emrick was on the microphone. Emrick called six winter Olympic games and twenty-two Stanley Cup Final series’ throughout his career. In a game known for its shockingly fast pace, Emrick found ways to build up what was happening and magnify big moments.   

“The passion that he has for the game, the energy and the emotion that he brings, as a fan of the game, that’s what you love,” Crosby said in “The Voice of Hockey” documentary.

Featured Image via Wikimedia Commons. This article was originally written for use in the JO 514  class at Boston University.