Tirico ready for challenge of calling first hockey game

DETROIT -- Mike Tirico doesn't want to be the story when he calls his first hockey game. He wants to tell the story. Ideally, he'll sound like he does when he broadcasts other sports -- natural and knowledgeable, like he's been doing this forever -- and viewers will forget he's there.

But watch the Chicago Blackhawks play the Detroit Red Wings at Little Caesars Arena on "Wednesday Night Hockey" (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN) and you'll hear one of the best in the business challenge himself professionally. You'll hear a lifelong hockey fan achieve a personal goal.
"I am a fan," Tirico said. "This is not my No. 1 job. It's a night to not just try to do this but try to do it the right way."
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Tirico, 52, has done most everything in more than three decades on television. Football. Basketball. Golf. Tennis. Horse racing. Auto racing. Olympics. He hosts marquee events and does play-by-play of Notre Dame football and the NFL on NBC.
He always wanted to try baseball and hockey, and the idea of doing an NHL game arose while he was hosting the 2018 Stanley Cup Final. This is his chance.
"I've never called one second of hockey," Tirico said. "The elapsed time of the game will be my entire hockey career as the night goes on."
But Tirico has followed hockey. Lots of it.
He grew up in Queens rooting for the New York Rangers. He'd go to games at Madison Square Garden when he could and listen to their games on the radio all the time, even late at night when they were on the West Coast.
One of his favorite teams was the 1978-79 Rangers, who went to the Stanley Cup Final with John Davidson in goal. The New York Islanders' dynasty in the 1980s left a mark, particularly their 1980 championship.

"The Bobby Nystrom overtime game-winner to win the Cup is still as bothersome to me as when I was growing up," Tirico said.
When Tirico worked at ESPN in the 1990s, he had Hartford Whalers season tickets. He sat in the fourth row by the Zamboni entrance in 1996-97, the season before the Whalers became the Carolina Hurricanes. Inside a clear paperweight, he has preserved a Hartford playoff ticket from a game that was never played.
Tirico moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan, when the Detroit Red Wings were one of the best teams in the NHL. He got tickets from a friend and sat high in the stands at Joe Louis Arena for Game 7 of the 2002 Western Conference Final -- behind the net from which Colorado Avalanche goalie Patrick Roy was pulled in the second period after allowing six goals. Detroit went on to win 7-0.
"It may be the loudest I've heard a building," Tirico said.
Lately, Tirico has been at NHL events as a host for NBC -- from the Winter Classic to the All-Star Game to the Stanley Cup Final -- and at NHL games preparing for this one. He has been speaking to play-by-play broadcasters on radio and television, as well as studying their calls.
"Hockey TV broadcasters end up using a lot of geography in calling the game, which is absent from every other game usually," Tirico said. "Blue line. Red line. Circle. Dot. All that stuff. Well, we can see that, so it's an interesting way the game has been called, the way it's evolved. It's the closest thing to a radio call on TV of any sport.
"So you just kind of go to school as a broadcaster who's done hundreds of games and then figure out, 'OK, how does my skill set best fit in executing this?'"
Ed Olczyk thinks Tirico will do just fine. He has worked with Tirico before on horse racing and will be his color analyst, with Brian Boucher between the benches.
"You look at what he's accomplished, and knowing that he's a big hockey fan, I mean, it's just kind of a natural," Olczyk said. "I look forward to being with him on his maiden voyage. It will be very comfortable, and we'll be there to support him. He's a talented guy."
One takeaway from Tirico's preparation has been a deeper appreciation of broadcasters such as Mike Emrick, Kenny Albert, John Forslund, Ken Daniels and Pat Foley.
"The bar is so high because there are so many great announcers that you know you're not going to be that good unless you do it all the time," Tirico said. "There's a reason that the best are the best."
For now, at least, the plan is for this to be one and done. But the experience will be valuable.
"I've always been a big believer that if you're in the studio at any point it's really good to get out and cover a game, because I think you do in-depth research that reminds you when you're in the studio of the things you really don't know unless you are spending those hours on a team," Tirico said. "Hopefully in the long run it will help any time when I'm around the NHL, but even [with] other sports in general. It's great to expose yourself to something new."