Mike Tirico has a remarkable broadcasting résumé, with big-time sports coverage particularly in the NFL (calling Monday Night Football from 2006-15), NBA, college football, golf, tennis, and soccer departments. But until Wednesday night, the 52-year-old had never called an NHL game.
Well, Tirico was the play-by-play man for Wednesday’s game between the Chicago Blackhawks and Detroit Red Wings on NBCSN, and fans seemed to enjoy his performance alongside Ed Olczyk.
Tirico’s first goal call came on this score from Chicago’s Artem Anisimov early in the first period:
And here’s Tirico’s call of Patrick Kane’s game-winner for the Blackhawks in overtime:
That sounds like a natural.
Tirico’s immediate success isn’t exactly surprising, seeing as how he’s been terrific in pretty much any previous play-by-play or studio-hosting role across the sports world. But hockey play-by-play may be the most difficult job in the business, featuring a sport with extremely fast-paced play and difficult names to pronounce from across the globe.
Here are some tweets from viewers impressed with Tirico’s debut:
https://twitter.com/506sports/status/1098389619060760576