Doc Emrick recalls one regret from broadcasting career

Credit: Awful Announcing

Mike “Doc” Emrick is widely regarded as the greatest announcer in NHL history, but even he has calls he would have liked to get a mulligan on.

Nearly 16 years after Patrick Kane scored the Stanley Cup-clinching overtime goal for the Chicago Blackhawks, it’s the call that still bothers Emrick, who was the lead voice for the NHL on NBC at the time. Emrick joined the latest episode of the Awful Announcing Podcast, where he discussed a variety of topics including Barry Melrose, Charles Barkley, the glow puck era, and the one call he wishes he could do again.

Emrick called 22 Stanley Cup Finals and six Olympics in his career. But when asked whether there were any games or events in history he wishes he was on the call for, Emrick only pointed to the one call he wishes he could do over.

“There’s one I sure would have liked to had back, and that was when Patrick Kane scored in Philadelphia and won the Stanley Cup for Chicago in 2010,” Emrick said. “And it doesn’t really make me feel any better that none of the other guys on press row that were broadcasting could see the puck either.”

“When you call an overtime game, you want to make sure the call is clean, and that one was anything but, because I was not able to see it,” he continued.

Emrick explained there is an off-ice official up in the press box whose only job was to turn on the goal light. And from his vantage point, he was able to see that the puck went into the net, but rules prevented him from turning the light on until an on-ice referee pointed at the net. The referee never pointed, the light didn’t turn on, and it ultimately kept Emrick from saying “score” until after the players began spilling onto the ice in celebration.

“NBC gave me the chance to redo it as I was retiring, and I got it right. I did a wonderful job calling on that I knew how it was going to go,” Emrick said with a smirk. “But that night, it was substandard.”