B's Announcers Get an A

I don’t particularly care for hockey. When I do watch, I root for the Bruins. Last season’s 7 game playoff series against Montreal was tremendous. But for me, watching a bunch of men with long names that appear to be made up only of consonants (except for the “i” on the end) chase a piece of rubber up and down a sheet of ice with sticks before beating the tar out of one another doesn’t really appeal to me.

However, while I sat at home last night, flipping through the channels (trying to avoid endless hours of Oscars coverage), I stumbled upon the Bruins game on NESN and decided to watch. They were playing the Tampa Bay Lightning.

The game itself was exciting, but the announcers only enhanced the feeling. Andy Brickley and Jack Edwards did a great job of pulling me into this game. When there was a good play or a hard hit you could hear it in their voices. The puck would get close to the goal and their voices would speed up and get a little higher. Their excitement kept me excited and interested in the game. The play-by-play was more than just borderline yelling every time something happened on the ice. I also got an assortment of facts that helped me learn the players and the game, like Andrew Ference tied the game at 2 with his first goal of the season.

Brickley and Edwards also make the audience use their imagination. After the Lightning scored back to back goals only 15 seconds apart, the two announcers began speculating as to what the conversation on the bench was. I thought this conversation did a nice job of including the viewers at home by making them use their knowledge of the game and players to draw their own conclusions as to the talk amongst the players after lightning struck in the same place twice…in the Bruins’ net.

There was one thing about Brickley and Edwards that did bother me, and that was the fact that they work for a broadcasting company that is partially owned by the team they’re covering. During the post game analysis, Andy Brickley said he found the Bruins’ 4-3 loss to the 13^th ranked team in the Eastern Conference “encouraging”. He seemed to be playing the role of a public relations worker instead of a sports commentator. I don’t mind listening to a “homer” give his commentary during a game. I love listening to Gino during Pats games and Remy in baseball season (I am aware the Sox also own NESN). But, it even appeared as though the Bruins had dressed the announcers too. They were both wearing black suits and bright yellow ties! Why not just put jerseys on them?

Overall, their matching ensembles did not detract from my enjoyment of the game. Brickley and Edwards find a good balance between facts and fun. It may have been enough to convert me into a regular hockey fan…maybe.