Mike "Doc" Emrick, longtime hockey announcer and broadcasting legend, is hanging up the microphone.
Fresh off calling the Lightning's Stanley Cup Final victory, Emrick announced his retirement via the New York Post after a 47-year broadcasting career.
Very few broadcasters in sports history are as synonymous with their sport as Emrick has been with hockey: The 74-year-old has been calling puck since 1973, starting his broadcasting career with the Port Huron Flags, eventually landing with the Devils and Flyers, going national in the '80s with ESPN. Emrick blossomed into the unquestioned voice of the NHL, calling games for NBC Sports.
After 3,750+ Professional and Olympic hockey games, 100 different verbs used to describe a pass or shot, and 22 Stanley Cup Finals, the legendary Mike "Doc" Emrick has announced his retirement from broadcasting.
— #ThankYouDoc (@NHLonNBCSports) October 19, 2020
From hockey fans around the world, we say #ThankYouDoc! pic.twitter.com/Pt27Dp63TW
MORE: NHL free-agency tracker: Full list of signings, best available players
Emrick is arguably best known for his pairing with Glenn "Chico" Resch, calling games as a duo for the Devils for 15 years.
"I hope I can handle retirement OK, especially since I’ve never done it before," Emrick said Sunday night, via the New York Post. "But I've just been extremely lucky for 50 years. And NBC has been so good to me, especially since the pandemic, when I was allowed to work from home in a studio NBC created. Now, into my golden years, this just seemed to be the time that was right.
"Plus, I've now accumulated enough frequent-flyer miles — to not go anywhere."
Emrick's nickname, "Doc," isn't just for his encyclopedic knowledge of the NHL, but because he earned a doctorate in communications from Bowling Green State University in 1976.
With his trademark, deep vocabulary, quick wit and iconic, one-of-a-kind voice, Emrick leaves an indelible mark on the microphone and audiences everywhere, with the hockey audience wishing Emrick happy trails in his waffleboarding away from the sport:
The Voice of the NHL in America,Mike Emrick, is retiring. An amazing career in a business that can be unforgiving.
— John Shannon (@JShannonhl) October 19, 2020
Emrick has always given the viewer the best seat in the house to enjoy the game. Mike always knew the game came first.
Good luck Mike, and Thank you.
A Doc Emrick thread: As a 30-year-old hockey fan living in the state of New Jersey my entire life, Doc has been part of seemingly every important hockey moment I can remember. From Grant Marshall’s third OT goal vs. Tampa to the first-ever Winter Classic, Brodeur’s 552nd....
— neal mchale (@nealmchale) October 19, 2020
Good luck in retirement to Doc Emrick, the voice of so many of my favorite moments following sports. As Marty Brennaman told me last year, it's a blessing in broadcasting to be able to call that shot yourself. https://t.co/infwdNLuvq
— Michael DeCourcy (@tsnmike) October 19, 2020
Doc Emrick shouldve announced his retirement by saying he's waffleboarding away
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) October 19, 2020
Wow. Truly one of the best in all of sports. An icon as big as the game. The facts Emrick remembered off the cuff and the way he often encapsulated what we were seeing so perfectly was talent at its peak.
— 🎃Trev-Or-Treat 👻 (@TampaBayTre) October 19, 2020
All the best to Doc. He deserves to sit back and enjoy. https://t.co/T6UtIBX8x3
Hockey won’t be the same without Doc Emrick. Congratulations to a legend!
— Mike Clay (@MikeClayNFL) October 19, 2020
First as role model and then, for the last 27 years, as colleague, Doc Emrick has been the gold standard to me for hockey play-by-play. IMHO, no one has captured and enhanced the excitement of hockey as a broadcaster the way he has. He’s an even better person. Congrats Doc!#GOAT
— Jim Jackson (@JimJPhilly) October 19, 2020
Awoke to word that ‘Doc’ Emrick is retiring, and to words from so many colleagues paying tribute to a career that will go unmatched and a humanity that should be emulated.
— Bob Socci (@BobSocci) October 19, 2020
Bud Selig said of Vin Scully, “Just hearing (his) voice makes me feel better.”
Same can be said of Doc.
Doc Emrick always stayed cool, calm and collected while calling a game
— Ryan Mead (@OhRyanMead) October 19, 2020
but I'm pretty sure this save by Henrik broke him for like 5 seconds pic.twitter.com/2dAsMj1ROX
All of us @SiriusXMNHL wish a happy retirement to the legendary Mike ‘Doc’ Emrick. Thank you for being such a great friend of the channel. pic.twitter.com/hSuMqfmG27
— SiriusXM NHL Network Radio (@SiriusXMNHL) October 19, 2020
A stick tap to the retiring Mike Emrick, a marvel of a broadcaster and a man. Doc has had a profound influence on hockey, in the way Foster Hewitt and René Lecavalier did in Canada. Honored to know hm.
— Michael Farber (@MichaelFarber3) October 19, 2020
