The entire NHL on NBC crew was on a conference call on Friday morning to talk about the upcoming Stanley Cup Finals matchup between the Tampa Bay Lightning and the Dallas Stars. Like the rest of the playoffs, the games will be played inside of the NHL bubble, with all action shifting to Edmonton for the Finals.
Play-by-play man Doc Emrick and analyst Eddie Olczyk were asked how long distance was effecting their usual chemistry. Olczyk is in Canada, while Emrick is calling games from his home in Michigan.
“We enjoy one another’s company so much, whether it winds up being a couple thousand miles apart or whether it’s on the air and in two separate boxes at the start of a show, it makes it just a part of a good life for me; I will tell you that,” Emrick answered.
He noted that there are times that the two will end up talking over each other, but each does his best to give the other enough space to avoid those hiccups.
Emrick was asked on the call about technical improvements that were made to limit the delay between the live action and what he sees on his screen at home. He said that he was never aware of a delay and deferred to producer Sam Flood.
“It was two tin cans, we stretched the string between it, and that sped up the process,” Flood joked. “Alexander Graham Bell was an analyst for us and helped us through, and Mr. Bell said if you go a shorter distance, which is from where you are outside Detroit to Edmonton, the sound and pictures will travel quicker, and that’s what we did and miraculously it worked. So the shorter distance sped us up.”
In reality, originally, what Emrick saw at home was being sent to him from the control room in Stamford, Connecticut after NBC received the video from its truck in either Toronto or Edmonton. In later rounds, Emrick’s feed came directly from the truck on location.
Olczyk cited the duo’s fourteen year history together. He said that no matter what, he trusts Emrick’s call just as he has in the past.
“I think it is obviously a unique dynamic, but when you’re working with the best, you follow Doc’s lead as Pierre and Bouch and I have done and will continue to do. There is a cadence that we understand, and I remember for the first time when I sat in that chair after the great John Davidson left for St. Louis to become team president of the St. Louis Blues some 14 plus years ago, and our leader Sam Flood, I remember him vividly saying, you know, late in a game, ‘Okay, guys, this is Doc time, and that’s when you pick your spots and you get in and you get out and you give Doc an opportunity to take a breath and we’d go from there.’”
He added that any praise that he and Emrick have received for covering games in the bubble is really praise for the entire NBC team.
“The team and the teamwork is second to none, and those are things that are going on behind the scenes that people don’t know about compared to a normal situation. But as we’ve all said, what the hell is normal in 2020, and we will figure it out because we’re working for and with the best, and we’re looking forward to tomorrow night.”
