Mike “Doc” Emrick celebrated his 74th birthday on Saturday by calling the Blackhawks-Oilers game in a way that he has never called a game before. On the latest episode of “SBJ Unpacks: The Road Ahead,” our John Ourand discussed with Emrick the experience of calling an NHL game from his home studio in Michigan, the intensity of the NHL’s restart and more.
On previous experiences that make calling NHL games from a remote location easier:
Emrick: I’ve done a little over 3,600 games, and so my ratio of monitor games to those is about 1 to 1,200 now. I did sit next to Pierre (McGuire) in doing a game in Stanford. We were side-by-side in the pre-COVID era, watching a game televised from Sweden with (the Kings), and that was back at a time when the NHL was having games in Europe to open the season. We did one of those, and we had monitors sitting in front of us, very much as I do in my studio in Michigan. The monitors were smaller then because technology had not risen to where we are now, the picture clarity was not nearly as good and the camera coverage was not nearly as good just because we’ve improved a lot over the years. There are some comparisons that I can make from that time to now, and there are some things that are very much better.
On what his home studio looks like:
Emrick: It involves a table that I sit at and have my various notes and everything on, and then on the left side of that table is a monitor that I would guess is about 32 inches diagonal. That is my game monitor. On my right is another monitor that has the capability of having multiple pictures on. The picture I normally have is, for example on Saturday afternoon, Eddie Olczyk in his studio on the left side in case he needed to signal me. We’ve worked together for 14 years, so hand signals are not something we normally need to do because we’re normally sitting next to each other. I could see him in his studio, and on the right side was another picture in case they needed to show me any replays or anything like that. That never really came into play that much on Saturday, but it might in the future. Directly ahead of me is a small iPad and that includes the camera on which I do my very brief open. ... To the left of that is the laptop, and on the laptop are the various announcements that I’m to do during the course of the game.
On what arena is his favorite to call events:
Emrick: There are several, and it is bias strictly because the places where you can identify players the best are the ones you like the best. ... If you are 20 rows or closer, it’s ideal. ... The ones that do really well for me are the newly revised press box at Madison Square Garden in New York because you’re 10 floors up but you are close, and Bell Centre in Montreal. ... It doesn’t matter how high, but 20 rows or closer you are put in a good position to be able to identify players. Those are the ones I like the best. For actual sound and ambiance, I really like United Center in Chicago. I think the sound really rolls in there, and TD Garden in Boston is another one that does really well that way.
