Longtime Bruins TV play-by-play announcer Jack Edwards is being remembered after announcing his impending retirement earlier this week. Edwards will call the Bruins' opening-round playoff games on NESN before hanging up the mic, and THE ATHLETIC’s Fluto Shinzawa wrote the “colorful and cheery Edwards established himself as one of the NHL’s most unique play-by-play announcers.” He “did not hold back in his enthusiasm for the Bruins in his calls,” and Bruins opponents and officials “often landed in Edwards’ verbal crosshairs” (THE ATHLETIC, 4/16). In Boston, Steve Conroy wrote Edwards is a “true icon of the organization.” As the Bruins’ popularity “surged once again leading up to and after their 2011 Stanley Cup run, Edwards was the voice of the team.” He brought the “same snarl to his call with which the B’s played on the ice” (BOSTON HERALD, 4/16).
ALL IN THE FAMILY: THE ATHLETIC's Steve Buckley wrote hometown announcers come to feel like family to fans, as was the case with the "eccentric, sometimes over-the-top, sometimes quite pensive" Edwards. At times he could "find himself at odds with even hardened B’s fans." Buckley: "Sometimes you wanted more game action and fewer speeches from Jack. His penchant for pushing the envelope sometimes pushed him right into trouble." However, beyond some "social-media harping there was no movement to remove him from the booth." Buckley: "That’s the way it is in most families: You’ll argue, you’ll grouse, you’ll hold grudges for a while, but seldom does anyone ask out." Hometown announcers "need to inform, and, yes, point out the boo-boos, but they also need to entertain in a way that makes us want to listen and watch." That is what Edwards "delivered to the Bruins for much of his tenure in the NESN booth" (THE ATHLETIC, 4/16).
