Typically, TV commentators are not the ones in the news the day after a big game. Then again, Jack Edwards is not your typical commentator.
The Boston Bruins' play-by-play announcer was the target of criticism on social media once again after an interesting call during Saturday night's matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning.
Take a listen:
Insane sequence in Bruins/ Lightning, including old time hockey pic.twitter.com/qh7c1RJ2G6
— Brady Trettenero (@BradyTrett) March 8, 2020
Clearly, there's a lot to unpack there.
First, Boston's Zdeno Chara takes exception to an apparent high-stick by Tampa Bay's Mikhail Sergachev. He reacts by heaving Sergachev's stick into the air, getting an impressive amount of height on the toss.
A few seconds later, Boston's Charlie McAvoy puts a shot on goal that is spilled by Lightning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy. The puck trickles through Vasilevskiy's legs and appears to cross the goal line, but the referee immediately indicates there was no goal. Tampa's Nikita Kucherov even gets a decent breakaway chance before being cut off by Chara at the other end.
MORE: See where Bruins, Lightning fall in our latest NHL Power Rankings
Then, out of nowhere, the siren goes off inside the stadium to indicate that video review showed a good goal. The Boston fans, seemingly as baffled as the rest of us, continue to boo while everyone on the ice tries to figure out what's going on.
Suddenly, the camera cuts to Chara scuffling with Tampa's Patrick Maroon before Lightning forward Anthony Cirelli wipes out the Bruins captain with a cross-check from behind. A brawl ensues, with everyone on the ice except the two goalies involved in the tussle. This is where Edwards' commentary gets interesting.
"Alright, alright, alright," he says, clearly enjoying the old-time hockey on display. "It's time to settle things down. Kuraly manhandles Killorn! Take your Harvard degree and take it to the hospital!"
Tampa Bay's Alex Killorn did attend Harvard University, where he played college hockey for four years.
"Chara's squaring off with Maroon," Edwards continues, "[He's] saying, 'You want to see the afterlife? I'll take you there!'"
Maroon then proceeds to take Chara down to the ice before things finally settle down momentarily.
Fans on social media were less than impressed with Edwards' commentary during the chaotic sequence, with many criticizing him for his apparent bias towards the Bruins players and violent choice of words.
It's certainly not the first time Edwards has been in hot water for his calls.
Back in October, he came under fire for saying an injury to Dallas' Roman Polak was "bad hockey karma."
And here's Bruins announcer Jack Edwards casually calling Roman Polak's injury "bad hockey karma" just before he was taken off the ice on a stretcher pic.twitter.com/lOdlJZPSfw
— Mark Powell (@jim_joyce_hater) October 4, 2019
Polak was motionless and eventually had to be stretchered off the ice. The defenseman's agent, Allan Walsh, later took to Twitter to call out Edwards.
“As for Jack Edwards," he said, "To say Roman’s injury was ‘bad hockey karma’ while he was laying on motionless on the ice, you are truly a piece of s— and an absolute disgrace.”
During the 2011 playoffs, Edwards also yelled at Montreal Canadiens defenseman Roman Hamrlik to get up after a collision with Boston's Michael Ryder.
Finally, in a 2013 game between Boston and Pittsburgh, he compared the Penguins' Matt Cooke to Sirhan Sirhan, the man who shot and killed Robert Kennedy. Cooke had ended the career of the Bruins' Marc Savard with a hard hit several years earlier.
Whether you love him or hate him, one thing is for certain. Jack Edwards will always speak his mind when he's calling games.
Boston fans probably wouldn't want it any other way.
