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Henderson Silver Knights

"A Great Moment to be Part Of": Behind the Mic with Broadcaster Brian Mccormack

August 22, 2024 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Henderson Silver Knights News Release


"And here we go! This is Henderson Silver Knights hockey. Hello friends, great to have you with us. Brian McCormack here with you."

If you've turned into any Silver Knights broadcast over the past four seasons, you'll likely recognize that as the introduction of broadcaster Brian McCormack. Heading into his fifth season with the franchise - and tenth career year as a broadcaster - Henderson's play-by-play man looks forward to ushering in another year of Silver Knights hockey.

His career tenure behind the microphone spans nearly a decade. In addition to Henderson, McCormack called games for the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL and the former San Antonio Rampage of the AHL. The broadcast booth was a natural progression after a lifetime spent playing hockey, including three seasons with the New Jersey Rockets.

McCormack took that step in college at the SUNY Geneseo radio station.

"As a young kid, I was going to Nassau Coliseum and Madison Square Garden, looking around like 'how do I figure out a way where they just let me come here every day?" he said. "I went to school with my younger brother Casey. There was a radio station on campus, and the rules to be on air were 'show up on time and don't curse.' So we decided to have a hockey talk show. We thought we'd have fun with it."

"One day, the station manager walked by and said 'that's not bad. Do you guys want to do the games?' As a D3 team, we started doing pregame, intermission, and postgame. The last two years I was play-by-play and he was color commentary. I did things along the way that made it a possibility - radio in college, an internship in Columbus - but I was doing them for fun. The idea of doing it for a living was kind of an accident, and it's an accident where I'm glad it worked out the way that it did."

After the San Antonio Rampage were purchased by the Foley Entertainment group, the team was relocated to Henderson. McCormack, who had called Rampage games for their past two seasons, applied to follow the team to Nevada. He arrived in January of 2021 and has been the voice of the Silver Knights ever since.

Every great or historical moment has a Brian McCormack call attached to it. So, how does he prepare for that kind of a stage?

"I think a lot of broadcasters would say that you don't want to script things ahead of time, but you want to put thought in," he said. "For example, I remember the first goal in Silver Knights history scored by Jake Leschyshyn. I wanted to make sure I was ready when that happened, because that's a highlight that will get played a lot in the future. Paul Cotter's first goal at The Stronghold was also incredible. Everyone was so excited for this new facility, this shiny new toy of ours. We wanted to see what it looks like when it goes off. And the Lucky Launch goals are always fun. All broadcasters try to come up with something clever for those moments."

"But the one that really sticks out is when Ben Jones scored on a breakaway in Game 1 of the Pacific Division playoffs during the [2020-21] season. What makes a broadcast call most memorable isn't what you say. It's the moment that you're describing, and it's also the energy in the building. Some of your favorite calls are the ones where you're not sure if you got drowned out by the crowd. The Pacific Division was the only division that had a playoff, and the Silver Knights and the Condors were in the division final at T-Mobile Arena. 10,000 people, Jones with a takeaway in the neutral zone, on a breakaway - you could just feel it building, culminating in T-Mobile arena exploding, even half-empty. When that game was over, I wanted to go back and watch that highlight right away. It just felt like a great moment to be a part of."

McCormack's calls help define those franchise moments for the Silver Knights. But equally important to the season are games he has dubbed Ordinary Time, or those which have no historical milestones nor themes attached to them. It's these matchups, and the volume of them that the AHL provides, that strengthen the relationship between team and fan throughout the hockey season.

"I think that's one of the beauties of getting to call 72 games a year," McCormack added. "Through our games, our fans are going to hopefully get to know me and how I'm narrating what's in front of me. It's a journey we're all on together. Over the course of a whole season together, by the end of it, you're going to be able to read my mind."

That season-long journey benefits those following the team and likewise those who might dream of being in a broadcast booth themselves at some point in the future. Proximity makes perfect is at the center of the advice that McCormack offers those who look to get into the industry themselves. The more that an aspiring broadcaster engages with the sport that they want to call, the better prepared they will be.

"In-person contact with the sport that you're calling is what will make you best at it," he said. "I say this all the time: being a broadcaster actually isn't hard. Anyone can do it. It takes practice, and it takes getting used to it. And if you're playing a character of what you think a broadcaster is supposed to sound like, it's probably not going to come across as genuine. Anyone who wants to do this: watch as much as you can, don't overthink it, and engage with it as much as you can. Whether that's playing the game itself, writing about it, being a sideline reporter: engage with it."

"My entire childhood, I was watching ESPN classics, I was watching hockey games, I was watching VHS tapes of hockey games my dad had. And playing hockey as long as I did helped, absolutely. I work with American Hockey League and NHL talents, who would never at all be impressed with the level of hockey that I play. But I played six-and-a-half days a week, from the age of five until 21. And when I wasn't playing it, I was watching it. Having played with players who played at much higher levels, and coaches who coached at much higher levels, it made me privy to the conversations. I wasn't able to play [at that level], but I understood the Xs and Os. Playing hockey and living hockey 25 years before I ever got to try this gave me a head start."

With the AHL season around the corner, what are some things that fans of the Silver Knights have to look forward to?

"From a broadcast perspective, we're hoping to have some updates to our AHL TV stream and modernize it a little bit," McCormack said. "And we're looking forward to being on Vegas 34 again with Scripps and with Broadcast Management Group, who we've worked with for five seasons now. I hope that it makes people feel like it relates to what they see on Vegas 34 for a VGK broadcast. And on the ice, I'm excited for the second year for Ryan Craig. He did a lot his first season to establish the culture he wanted in the locker room and find what some of the young talent is capable of doing. Younger guys, like Jakub Brabenec, Jakub Demek, Lukas Cormier - this team's success is dependent upon those young players taking some substantial steps forward. [They'll] be having that transition year, where it's not about learning but about producing. It's going to be exciting to see them handle that challenge."

"Ultimately, I'm just very grateful to have the type of hockey-crazed audience that we have: people who love the Silver Knights. And the fact that they get to engage with the team through me and the broadcast when they can't do it in person. I'm very grateful that I get to be the one who does that."

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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