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Mike Emrick to Join Bob Chase on Friday's Fort Wayne Komets Broadcast

November 8, 2012 - ECHL (ECHL) News Release


PRINCETON, N.J. - NBC Sports play-by-play announcer Mike Emrick will join legendary Fort Wayne Komets voice Bob Chase for the broadcast of Friday's Komets game against Evansville.

Chase is celebrating his 60th anniversary behind the Komet microphone this season and is partnered by former Komet goaltender Robbie Irons at home games. Emrick is enjoying his 40th career season as a professional hockey broadcaster. Currently, Emrick is the lead announcer for the NHL on NBC and has credited Chase with inspiring him to enter the field of hockey broadcasting. Emrick grew up in northeast Indiana near Wabash and was first introduced to ice hockey while listening to Chase announce the play-by-play of Komet hockey games on WOWO radio.

Fans will be able to catch the broadcast on America One Sports, the Official Broadband & Mobile Broadcaster of the ECHL.

"Although my parents took my brother Dan and me to our first game in 1960 at the Coliseum, I first met Bob at WOWO radio in 1966 when I was a student at Manchester working on a school project on sports broadcasting," Emrick said. "He was very generous of his time that day at the station and has been ever since. To be in the same booth with him and one of my favorite Komets, Robbie Irons, will be one of the most special nights of my 40 years in hockey. It will be fun to be a passenger while Bob drives the bus."

Chase recently was awarded the NHL U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Lester Patrick Trophy honoring him for his service to hockey in the United States. Emrick is also a recipient of the Lester Patrick Trophy, awarded in 2004. It is believed that Friday night will mark the first time two Lester Patrick Trophy winners have paired to broadcast a professional hockey game.

Emrick joined NBC and NBC Sports Network on a full-time basis in 2011 after serving as the television voice of the New Jersey Devils for the previous 18 seasons (21 overall). He is now in his 39th year covering professional hockey, including 32 in the National Hockey League. Emrick, who is in his seventh season as the league's lead play-by-announcer on both NBC and NBC Sports Network, has worked more than 3,000 hockey games in his broadcast career.

On Dec. 12, 2011 Emrick was one of five individuals, and the first-ever broadcaster inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame. In May 2011, he received his first-ever national Emmy Award as best sports play-by-play personality, a first for hockey. Emrick received the 2008 Foster Hewitt Memorial Award from the Hockey Hall of Fame for his outstanding contributions as a hockey broadcaster. He has been on the selection committee for the Hall of Fame for ten years, and has also served on the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee. He was named recipient of the 2004 Lester Patrick Award for service to hockey in the United States, while serving as the ceremony's emcee 16 times, and as a member of its selection committee three times. Emrick received the 1999 Cable Ace Award for best play-by-play sportscaster nationally, and has received the New York region Emmy for on-camera achievement on seven occasions.

Emrick has worked on 24 consecutive Stanley Cup Playoffs, 13 Stanley Cup Finals series, and ten NHL All-Star Games. He previously served as the television voice of the Philadelphia Flyers, 1988-93, as well as a telecaster for PRISM-TV, 1980-83. Emrick has been vice president of the NHL Broadcasters Association since 1985, and has broadcast hockey for CSTV, ESPN, and FOX. He has contributed to nhl.com, while providing voice-overs for Hockey Week, NHL Power Week, the NHL's Stanley Cup video, and Sony's NHL Video Game. Emrick spent time as a radio broadcaster for more than 100 hockey games on WNBC/WFAN-AM, 1983-88. His other sports credits include: the National Football League, NCAA men's basketball, Olympic water polo, track and luge. He began his career serving as radio/TV broadcaster and public relations director of the AHL's Maine Mariners, 1977-80, and the IHL's Port Huron Flags, 1973-77. Emrick earned his Ph.D. in radio-television-film from Bowling Green State University in 1976. A fan of the Pittsburgh Pirates for 53 years, he participated as a second baseman in the 2012 Pirates Fantasy Camp this January in Bradenton, Fla., playing for Team Clemente.

A native of LaFontaine, Ind., Mike and his wife, Joyce Anne, are joined by two canine children and five horses at their home in St. Clair, Mich.

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